Balvenie 12 Year The Sweet Toast of American Oak

Review by: The Muskox

Here’s another whisky I tried at a get-together with some friends this past weekend. This Balvenie was part of a trilogy quadrilogy of whiskies, along with the 14-year-old “The Week of Peat” and the 26-year-old “A Day of Dark Barley”, released by Balvenie in 2019 *AND the 19-year-old “The Edge of Burnhead Wood” release which I had never heard of until 8 seconds ago. The Week of Peat release was ostensibly meant as a successor to the popular “Peat Week” bottling, but the other two seem to have been weird one-offs. Let’s give this virgin-oak-matured bottling a try.

Distillery: Balvenie.

Bottler: Official bottling.

Region: Speyside.

ABV: 43%.

Age: 12 years old. Bottled on 03/06/2019.

Cask type: Virgin American Oak.

Color: Amber. Colour added, chill-filtered.

Nose: Sweet with a citrusy zing. Dripping honey, navel oranges, sliced red apples, and lemon drops. Gentle caramel and vanilla. Not a whole lot else.

Palate: Medium-thin texture. Sweeet citrus and honey on the arrival, leading to a caramel-y and oaky development. Slightly burnt toast with butter, butterscotch, and buttered popcorn. Mild vanilla and a hint of pepper.

Finish: Medium-short. More oak and buttered toast, this time with a layer of orange marmalade. Honey and a hint of fresh ginger spice.

Possible SMWS bottling name: “Nominative determinism”

Notes: Of course, if you actually replaced the name of this bottling with “Nominative determinism”, then the name would refer back to itself and wouldn’t make any sense. But I digress.

Well, it’s sweet, it’s toasty (literally), and it tastes like American oak, and that’s pretty much it. It’s exceedingly middle-of-the-road. Not sure why it’s so much more expensive than the 12-year-old Doublewood, or for that matter, triple the price of Deanston Virgin Oak, which is probably the better whisky of the two.

Final Score: 75.

Scoring Legend:

  • 95-100: As good as it gets. Jaw-dropping, eye-widening, unforgettable whisky.
  • 90-94: Sublime, a personal favorite in its category.
  • 85-89: Excellent, a standout dram.
  • 80-84: Quite good. Quality stuff.
  • 75-79: Decent whisky worth tasting.
  • 70-74: Meh. It’s definitely drinkable, but it can do better.
  • 60-69: Not so good. I might not turn down a glass if I needed a drink.
  • 50-59: Save it for mixing.
  • 0-49: Blech.

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