Archive For May 6, 2015
One small, lesser know fact is that all Balvenie whisky is peated. Well, at 6 ppm you wouldn’t really call it peated, but the malt does get a few hours of peat smoke exposure. The distillery has two furnaces, and the peat exposure is done at the beginning of the kilning. That’s not, however, what…
If asked what Balvenie’s “thing” is, I’d say it’s finishes. Granted, some of the expressions are unfinished, but very few are “straight up” bourbon or sherry cask matured. But looking at Balvenie’s core range, it secreams finishes: from the 12 year old DoubleWood (reviewed here), the 14 year old Caribbean Cask (reviewed here), today’s 17…
I love getting mail from my readers, and this week I got an email from Malt and Oak reader and Balvenie fan Tiffany asking for a review of the Balvenie 14 year old Caribbean Cask. In truth, I’ve been remiss in publishing notes for several Balvenie expression I either have notes for, or have samples…
Pulling the Vats Together: The Remarkable Regional Malts By Douglas Laing and a Taste of the Beastie
I like malt blends, it’s no secret. I think that when done right, they can literally make each of the component malts shine, and the whole can be more than the sum of its parts. This is, of course, true also for the the other end of things. Vatted malts are easy to botch up,…
When I got a dram of the new Tomatin Cask Strength I thought to myself that we’re getting another cask strength sherry bomb, the likes of the Aberlour A’Bunadh, Glenfarclas 105 and the GlenDronach or Glengoyne Cask Strength. Honestly, this is one of my favorite classes of whisky, and I always have 1-2 of the sherry…