Hello Fellow Scotch Lovers –

As many of you will recall, this past spring I ventured across the pond to Scotland, to attend the Spirits of Speyside festival, and visit some of Scotland’s great distilleries.

One of my favorite distilleries was The Balvenie, in Dufftown, just outside of Speyside. Balvenie is the only distillery in the Scottish Highlands that continues to operate their own floor maltings, with four men in shifts turning the barley three times a day, seven days a week. The distillery also grows its own barley, and employs a full-time Coppersmith to care for their unique stills and a team of Coopers to care for their casks.

At the end of the tour we were treated to the byproducts of their efforts as you would expect. The entire tasting was one piece of candy after another…but one of the real stand-out whiskies was their 15 YO single barrel bourbon finished whisky.

The Balvenie 15 YO Single Barrel Single Malt Scotch Whisky is drawn from a single bourbon cask of a single distillation. Each cask is subtly different, however, Balvenie Malt Master David Stewart selects only those casks that have the essential characteristics of The Balvenie Single Barrel – particularly honey, vanilla and oaky notes.

Each cask forms a limited edition of hand-numbered bottles – there are a maximum of 350 bottles from any one cask – so each bottle is unique and unrepeatable.

After our Thanksgiving dinner, Nicky “The Neck” and I shared a few drams of this whisky. Reflexively, “The Neck” treated me and the other dinner guests to a series of moans of delight reminiscent of a bad porn film, and then declared his undying affection for this whisky, and his intentions to spread the love.

As always, “The Neck” kept his word, which brings me to this weeks Whisky Wednesday incredible opportunity to purchase Balvenie 15 YO Single Barrel Single Malt Speyside Whisky for $60 (reg $75).

As usual, the product supply at this price is very limited…and once it’s gone, it’s gone. So please purchase your bottle(s) ASAP if you are interested.

Until next week…keep those cards and letters coming!

Doug Stone
Founder
www.ForScotchLovers.com

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BALVENIE 15 YO SINGLE BARREL BOURBON CASK FINISHED SINGLE MALT

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TASTING NOTES – courtesy of John Hansell / The Whisky Advocate

One of the finest Balvenie 15 year olds that I’ve tasted. The flavors are clean, well defined, confident, and beautifully balanced. Full malty foundation (with some ripe barley thrown in). Soft, creamy vanilla, honeycomb, bright fruit (orange, nectarine, lemon peel, hints of pineapple), with emerging dried vanilla, coconut, oak resin, and subtle anise. Polished oak finish. It doesn’t have the depth that the classic older Balvenies have shown in the past, but what it does have, it has in spades. Quite splendid!

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TASTING NOTES – DAVID STEWART, BALVENIE MASTER BLENDER

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 delicate spice notes.

FINISH – Long and complex with a touch of liquorice