The Basics:
Do I recommend it?: Yes. It’s good (but not great).
Availability: Widespread.
ABV: 43%)
Presentation: Unspecified.
General information: Finished in Caribbean rum casks.
Bottling type: Proprietary
Character: Fruity and honeyed.
Score: 85/100
The details:
Balvenie takes its name from a nearby ruined castle. It was built in 1892 by William Grant, building on the success of his Glenfiddich distillery, which had begun operations 5 years earlier. Like Glenfiddich, Balvenie remains in the hands of William Grants and Sons, which is still owned by the Grant family.
Both distilleries–which are next door neighbors in the Speyside town of Dufftown–were of course originally built to supply malt whiskies for the Grants’ blend. When William Grant and Sons began marketing Glenfiddich as a single malt in the 1960s, things started to change, and by 1973, Balvenie was being tentatively marketed as a single malt, as well.
Balvenie quickly developed a positive reputation with enthusiasts, and with the addition of the Kininvie and Ailsa Bay malt distilleries to fill Grants blends, there is more stock available for single malt. Among the Balvenie expressions that are regularly available is a 14 year old finished in rum casks, although the precise branding has varied over the years. I haven’t had any of the more recent batches, however the version reviewed here (from the 2010s) was a generally enjoyable, easy drinking, but not exactly inspired whisky, with lots of fruit and honey, and enough of a feinty edge to keep things interesting. It’s certainly solid stuff, although the last I checked, it was getting pretty expensive for a whisky that doesn’t check any boxes for integrity presentation.
Balvenie 14 – Caribbean Cask, 43% abv
Bottling Information:
Expression: Caribbean Cask
Bottler: Proprietor
Range: Core
Bottle Code: L 2 W 653923041524
Presentation: Unspecified
Details: Finished in a Caribbean rum cask
Price: $70-90
Availability: Widespread, and seemingly becoming moreso. Any decent liquor store should have it, and you might run across some at a big box store.
Distillery Information:
Region: Speyside
Location: Dufftown, Morayshire
Geography: Inland
Date Founded:
Owner: William Grant & Sons
Website: https://www.thebalvenie.com/
Capacity: 7,000,000
Plant Summary: MASH TUN: Semi-Lauter; WASHBACKS: 12 Various; STILLS: 11; HEAT SOURCE: Steam; CONDENSER: Shell and Tube
Total expressions sampled: 3
Overall distillery score: B-
Tasting notes:
Nose: Quite fruity. Bananas. Cashews. Grapefruit. Tomato paste in a tin. There’s a salty note as well. Baked apples. Burnt sugar. Exotic fruits—guava?
Body: Medium to full, a bit syrupy.
Palate: Lots of baked green apples. Fruity. Kiwis. Soft fruits—mangos, peaches and apricots. Sweet—cherry. There’s some feintiness underpinning all the soft fruit—a tobacco note and some noticeable waxiness. Juicy. Muscat. Honeyed. Some wood toward the back palate.
Finish: Remains quite sweet, but with salted tomatoes coming into the mix. There’s a waxy smokiness, like snuffed candle and finally drying and fading away. Long.
Score: 85/100
Who should buy it?: People who love rum cask maturation, people who love Balvenie, people who enjoy tasty whisky and don’t care a whole lot about the finer points of abv and chillfiltration.
Overall thoughts: Quality stuff that could probably be much, much better with more care given to the presentation.
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Whisky Considered 