February 2011

Balvenie Doublewood

/ / Review, Scottish Whisky, Speyside / ,

The Balvenie Doublewood Single Malt Scotch Whisky Aged 12 Years
43% ABV
$37 to $42
Widely available around the world
Website

What the Distillery Says:
“characterised by rich honey sweetness and a delicate layer of sherry”

The Balvenie DoubleWood is a 12 year old single malt which gains its distinctive character from being matured in two woods. Over its period of maturation it is transferred from a traditional oak whisky cask to a first fill European oak sherry cask. Each stage lends different qualities to the resulting single malt ~ the traditional casks soften and add character, whilst the sherry wood brings depth and fullness of flavour.

NOSE: Sweet fruit and Oloroso sherry notes, layered with honey and vanilla.
TASTE: Smooth and mellow with beautifully combined flavours ~ nutty sweetness, cinnamon spiciness and a delicately proportioned layer of sherry.
FINISH: Long and warming.

What Richard Says:
Nose: I get a lot of honey and fruity notes but somehow I’m missing the vanilla and sherry.
Palate: Very smooth. Sweet at the start and then it settles into notes of oak, oranges, and hazelnuts.
Finish: The finish is as smooth at the palate and very warm. It’s a little more tart and bitter on the finish though.
Comments: I really like this particular dram, especially under the $40 price point. I think it’s a great value dram and shows great craftsmanship coming out of William Grant & Sons.
Rating: Stands Out, Great Value

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February Administrative Update

/ / Richard's Blog

Only the first week of February and I’m already breaking my resolution. Well, the delay of our February reviews is beyond my control. I have a young daughter who’s in daycare. For those who don’t know, daycares are breeding grounds for every version of the common cold. As a result, my nose and palate were out of action all last week. I plan to have a review of Balvenie 12 Year Old Doublewood out by mid week and a Travel Retail version of Balvenie out by Friday. February’s theme is William Grant and Sons. We’ll be posting reviews of a few select Balvenie and Glenfiddich drams this month.

On an administrative note, you may have noticed that Matt’s been a little quiet the last few weeks. His work schedule among other things are taking up a good bit of his time. Unfortunately, running the website doesn’t pay the bills. 🙂 I’ll be holding down the fort and Matt will post when he can for a short while until things calm back down. The content will keep coming on a normal schedule. The only thing I ask is that if you are a reader, marketer, producer, or distributor and have a pertinent communication please copy me on it too so that we can make sure you get a response as quickly as possible.

Drink wisely my friends,

Richard

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New U.S. Releases: January 2011

/ / Bourbon, Scottish Whisky

A new year and some new whiskey coming our way. January is typically a little light on new releases but anything better than the drought we saw in November and December. Here are the two we heard about this month.

Arran Machrie Moor
ABV: 46%
Price: $60
Timeframe: Early 2011
Matt mentioned this a couple of weeks ago. This will be the first peated single malt coming from Arran. Only 9,000 bottles are included in this initial release.

Evan Williams 2001 Vintage
ABV: 43.3%
Price: $26
Timeframe: Early 2011
I always look forward to this annual release. I really enjoyed the 2000 vintage last year. I can’t wait to try this one.

As always, if you heard of something we missed please let us know.

Drink wisely my friends,

Richard

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