The Balvenie 15 Year Old Single Barrel Sherry Cask Scotch

Last week Monday we spent a good length of time with the lovely people from The Balvenie. We managed to sample some absolutely exquisite drams of Balvenie and even had the chance to sample drams that are no longer in production  along side some seriously aged Scotch but we’ll get to that in a couple of weeks. One of The Balvenie’s sampled that night was this 15-year-old Single Barrel Sherry Cask.

The Balvenie is once again celebrating the unique nature of single cask whisky, and the mysterious interaction between oak and spirit, with the release of its Single Barrel Sherry Cask 15 Year Old. The Balvenie’s Single Barrel Sherry Cask has been matured exclusively in a single European oak sherry butt for at least 15 years. The 15-year maturation in a cask that has previously held Oloroso sherry creates a single malt characterised by dried fruit richness, nuttiness and spice. No more than 650 hand-numbered bottles are drawn from each sherry butt and each bottle carries the number of the cask in which it was matured. The Single Barrel Sherry Cask 15 Year Old is the second release in The Balvenie’s Single Barrel range – following on from the Single Barrel First Fill 12 Year Old, which we tasted last year and you can read our thoughts right here.

THE BALVENIE 15 YEAR OLD SINGLE BARREL SHERRY CASK

On the nose: you’ll be welcomed by sweet notes of sherry, almonds and liquorice. Notes of marzipan will start to appear followed by notes of pineapples and hints of a musky nature. Some vanilla, toffee and spicy clove notes will start to emerge.  On the palate: you’ll experience those sherry notes but they are not as sweet as expected. These will then be followed by those almond, liquorice and marzipan notes. There is more of a hint of cinnamon on the palate rather than cloves and that pineapple note lingers in the background, with touch of oak!  The finish: is medium to long, spicy with lingering sherry and oak.

The verdict: The Balvenie Single Barrel Sherry Cask 15 Year Old has a consistent character that is rich with elegant oak and subtle spice. Dried fruits are overlaid with a gentle nuttiness, leading to a long and sherried finish – making it a perfectly balanced dram. The Balvenie Single Barrel Sherry Cask 15 Year Old is a non chill-filtered release with an ABV of 47.8%. A drop that didn’t need any water – though if you do need to then only add a very small amount. If you don’t feel the urge to add any water then allow the scotch to breathe for approx. 5 – 10 minutes to open up the nose and palate.