The >15 YO Balvenie 15 YO Single Barrel
by theorangedog on May.22, 2008, under Spirits
The Balvenie distillery limits the production from each cask selected for bottling the 15 YO to a maximum of 350 bottles.
From the distillery website:
Nose ~ Fragrant aroma of vanilla honeyed sweetness, hints of heather and dry oaky notes.
Taste ~ Rich and complex, suggestive of years of careful ageing, it has a honeyed maltiness with vanilla oak flavours, and hints of spice. It has a long and complex finish with a touch of liquorice.
The most apparent taste is generally honey. I also usually notice the oak.
Still, what is interesting to note is the actual age of the scotch. The tube mentions that “this whisky matures in wood for no less than 15 years.” The “no less” component of that is the key. While one won’t always find a bottle older than 15 years, it is entirely plausible to get bottles that have matured over longer periods. Of my three currently in stock, I have two that are 17 YO and one that is 16 YO.
A Whisky Mag forum member from Germany posted the details from his bottling:
Bottle 14 from cask 16167, 50,4%
In cask: 17.11.1980
Bottled: 25.04.2002
You will likely immediately notice this is over 21 YO, which is the same age as their Portwood 21, which sells for double the price of the 15 YO SB.
This bottling is just 10 days shy of being 17 YO. The finished 17 YO bottles from Balvenie usually sell for US$90 to US$100, so at just over US$50, this 15 YO SB was a good savings, and a good opportunity to compare those finished 17 YO bottles to an unfinished release - even if that wasn’t David Stewart’s intent.
Leave a Reply
-
Welcome to theorangedog.net.
This site is my dashboard for links and information on topics related to Skills (Finance), Spirits (Whisky & Beer), and Speed (Races & Training).
-
.
Check these guys out!
