ABV: 48.3 %
Origin: Speyside
Type: Single malt
Bottles in collection: 1
Emptied bottles: 0
Impression: 4/5

Tasting notes
Nose: Wet leather and burning hay cover a sweet and fruity baseplate. It takes a few seconds to get through the peat, but behind there’s a big bucket of fruits with orange zest and ripe red juicy apples. There’s also notes of honey, milk chocolate and a slight hint of vanilla. A hint of sweet black liquorice shows up with time in the glass.

Mouth: It’s very juicy and spicy. The fruitiness is in the center with wet leather surrounding it like a pouch. It’s got a bitter tang to it which gives the whole thing balance. The sweetness is surrounding everything in a thin layer. There’s dust and a general sense of age about it and that sense increases with time in the glass. There’s no oak or astringency showing up.

Finish: The fruitiness and spicyness immideatly spikes and then get replaced by the peaty flavours. Finally the oak shows up. It comes with a dark, high percentage cocoa chocolate. There’s no direct sweetness and there’s a good portion of hazelnuts in the end. There’s also a hint of tropical fruits peeking through on the tail end. The peat sits on the palate a long time after the dram’s demise.

Additional information
Balvenie makes peated whisky one week every year. This is the 2003 batch. The peat level used is 30 ppm. It’s aged in american ex-bourbon barrels and it’s unchillfiltered and has natural colour.

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