Today it was the day of the presentation of a new Balblair at the renewed Brand house. To Celebrate this release, I got myself a sample (with some other people from twitter) generously sent to us by Alembic communications and of course Balblair. This is a different twitter tasting while there was not a defined starting time, it was the almost the whole day. Apparently this new vintage release is a changing from the former releases. The new vintages will be bottled at 46%, non-chill filtered and at natural colour. This particular vintage is matured in high quality white American Oak ex-bourbon casks.
The whisky:
Time to start tasting this dram. While pouring it you instantly are getting al lot of fruit and citrus notes. After a short period of breathing it shows more distinct fruits: Lemon, pear and quite a lot of sweetened pineapple. Very fresh and gentle nose, which puts you off will you take a sip.
The taste is surprisingly zingy spicy, with a little bitterness. This taste kicks in, quite a lot of white pepper and lemon curd and what would you expect from an Ex-Bourbon Cask quite a lot of vanilla. After a while the taste develops with some eastern spices.
The finish is not as spicy as the taste, more a great combination of the very fruity and smooth nose and the more spicy taste. Again the lemon and the pineapple are in the lead, but also a feel as if you were eating a chocolate coated vanilla cream. It lingers quite some time in your mouth.
A great balanced dram which keeps evolving due to the complexity in all the layers of the dram, but it keeps easy to drink. Price I don’t know yet. Points 82.
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