The Balvenie Single Barrel Aged 12 Years #297

Style: Sweet and Delicate

Rating: ☆ [Recommended]

Nose:

Malt, graphite, ink and white fruits intertwined into a magnificent strain at the front. Crème de menthe expanding and providing a powerful base to it. Insulating layer of bird’s eye chilli seeds, nutmeg and vanilla pods, while delicate peaches and nectarines filtering through. Summer berries rounding up, more coconut and cream gradually cuts through towards the end.

Palate:

Layers are melding closer together on the touchdown, white fruits and yellow fruits navigate in politely and dictate the front palate. Lilies dressed around a hollowing chilli backbone, more graphite and dry barley tangling around it. Vanilla and coconut cream with more nutmeg shavings. Glimpses of carrot cake and peppermint to finish.

Finish:

Yellow fruits rippling through over a rather lacking finish.

Thoughts:

In general this is a very well-executed expression, with most of the elements operating in unison. It also highlights the beautiful malt-driven distillate and demonstrates what “less is more” eloquently. That said, there is also the stark bone dryness in Balvenies that I just can’t shake off, which is very noticeable at the back palate. I wonder if heavy cask pairings would do the trick, but with most Bourbon cask scenarios, both young and old, does leave a hole to be filled.

[47.8% | Circa 2017 | Original Bottling | Cask Number: 297 | Bottle Number: 164 | First Fill ex-Bourbon Barrel | Single Cask | *-]