Review by: The Muskox

Old Balvenie generally gets bottled in one of two forms – as extremely expensive official bottlings, and as these “Burnside” teaspooned bottlings. In this latter case, a drop of Glenfiddich is added to the whisky to legally make it a blended malt rather than a single malt. There are a variety of reasons bottlers might want to do this – it could be done at the request of the distillery, which is likely the case here.

If you’ve got deja vu, it’s because TOModera reviewed this whisky here yesterday, then handed the rest of his sample off to me. What a guy!

---

Distillery: Balvenie.

Bottler: Cadenhead’s.

Region: Speyside.

ABV: 44.8%. Cask strength.

Age: 27 years. Distilled in 1991. Bottled in March 2019.

Cask type: Bourbon barrel.

Price: N/A, sample.

Color: Light gold. Natural Color. Non-chill-filtered.

---

Nose: Fresh, floral, and delicate. Lots of floral honey. Sweet ripe fruit notes of pineapple, passionfruit, cantaloupe, pear, and banana. Fragrant green tea and long grass. A well-worn book of dried pressed flowers. Perfumed – lilacs, rosemary, and fresh laundry. Cannelés de Bordeaux. A bit of graphite and mineral water.

Palate: Medium texture. Arrived with piles of pineapple and honey, along with sweet cereals, lavender, lemon-lime soda, and some vanilla ice cream. Slightly drying texture on the development, with flavours of ginger, green grapes, minerals, and soft herbs. A slightly toasty malt note comes in too – key lime pie with a graham cracker crust. Very little oak.

Finish: Slightly short, very floral and rather sweet. More honey and custardy vanilla. Sun-ripened peaches, lychee, and citrus hard candies.

---

Possible SMWS bottling name: “Scrapbooking in the sunroom”

Conclusion: An absurdly summery and sweet dram, just what I like. It’s similar to my favourite ex-bourbon Arrans, but even sweeter and sunnier. I think some people would say that this is floral enough to be soapy, but not me. It’s maybe a little sweeter and simpler than I’d like, if I had to nitpick.

Final Score: 87.

---

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.