Balvenie 14 YO review | William’s Whisky Database

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

Tasting notes
Nose: This is sweet and peaty. 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. This is a nice nose with a lot to offer.

Mouth: It starts out 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. This is a very good whisky which gives the house style a nice twist.

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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ABV: 43 %
Origin: Speyside
Type: Single malt
Bottles in collection: 0
Emptied bottles: 1
Impression: 4/5

Tasting notes
Nose: This is very sweet and fruity. It’s got a really thick layer of brown sugar and brown syryp. Underneath the classic Balvenie fruitiness comes through with orange peel as the main attraction, but red apples and some raspberries are in there as well. A touch of cinnamon and chocolate completes this full and very rich nose.

Mouth: First impact is a very mild one. The sweetness, now with honey added, is first to come through and then cinnamon follows together with a small spicy note. The oak shows up and brings walnuts and dark chocolate. There’s a bitter tone to it and that sort of transcends from the oak into a fruitiness. It’s leaning heavily towards orange peel that, together with the sweetness, creates a layer of marmelade.There’s still a hint of red apples and raspberries but those are now well hidden in the background. There’s a touch of dust and it’s slightly astringent.

Finish: The flavours are very immidiate and a warm cinnamon spicyness teams up with brown syryp, honey and the orange peel. The rest of the fruitiness is not present anymore. It turns more and more towards the bitter side the longer the finish goes. It ends with oakiness, dust, walnuts and some cocoa powder. This is a christmas dessert in a glass.

Additional information
This 14 YO is aged for around 13-14 years in traditional american ex-bourbon barrels and then finished in new american oak casks seasoned with caribbean rum for about 9 months.

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