Balvenie and Burnside


June 19, 2023

Balvenie and Burnside

These Burnsides are Balvenie-driven teaspooned blended malts, they are not Eaglesome/Cadenhead's Burnsides, which where Springbanks, although Cadenhead would also use the name Burnside for their own Balvenies. I mean, for their teaspooned Balvenies… Ooh it's getting complicated indeed, but we'll first try one or two newish young Balvenie OB…

Balvenie 'The Creation of a Classic' (43%, OB, Balvenie Stories, +/-2022)

NAS, ex-bourbon, finished in oloroso, so indeed a contemporary classic. Not sure it would have been a classic thirty years ago. Except the Tuns, they haven't done many NAS yet at Balvenie, apart from those old flat 'basquaise' bottles. Colour: pale gold. Nose: quite herbaceous, on beer and hay, malt, green walnut, brown toast and some spices. I miss a little honey, mirabelle plums and quince that I love so much at Balvenie, but it's not so bad. A little sour apple, a little sour cream… Mouth: it is malty and quite sweet, you can feel the sherry well, walnut liqueur, cinnamon liqueur, mead, plum tart and the peppery side of a fairly active wood. Then there is more and more tarte tatin, and we won't complain. Finish: the woody side is a bit present, with cedar wood, tobacco, lots of cinnamon and black tea. But it works pretty well. Vanilla and a drop of young Sauternes in the aftertaste. Comments: it's good, remains to be seen who will pay much more for a version that has lost all mention of age. Perhaps all the other distilleries that have already implemented this little trick now very widespread in Scotland should be asked.
SGP:551 - 84 points.

Balvenie 12 yo 'Triple Cask' (40%, OB, +/-2022)

This is a vatting, a.k.a. a marriage of first-fill bourbon, refill bourbon and sherry. So a pretty regular set-up, but it seems that the masses want to hear about casks these days. Double, triple, quadruple, quintuple, sextuple, seventuple (what?)… Not joking, remember Isle of Jura's Seven Wood?! I suppose they have an Eight Wood version for dear China. It reminds me a bit of when cars needed to gather the mentions 'injection', 'sixteen valves or 16V' and, naturally, 'turbo' on the trunk. But back to this little Balvenie, if you please… Colour: straw. Nose: it's light and has pretty notes of ripe apple, pears, mead again, roasted peanuts, cider and indeed mirabelles. Also a little honey and cinnamon cookie. Nice nose, really. Yes, yes, I insist. Mouth: it suffers a tiny bit after the NAS, mainly due to these 40% vol. which make it slightly flat, even if Balvenie resists well to wild reduction, as always shown by their 21 years 'Portwood'. Nice notes of cider again, and vanilla plus cinnamon. Finish: barely short, still on this cider, on apple pie sprinkled with cinnamon and brown sugar… Comments: frankly, it's not bad at all, it's quite tasty and above all very approachable. But we want four oaks next time, please! And five the year after…
SGP:541 - 83 points.

And so, this old Burnside…

Burnside 28 yo 1994/2022 (47.8%, The Whisky Blues, blended malt, cask #5139, hogshead, 229 bottles)

Isn't this one ticking all the boxes? I remember we had tried an awesome Burnside 1994 by Le Gus't earlier this year. And since this very one is by 'The Whisky Blues', naturally, we'll listen to something by R.L. Burnside while trying this baby. We should have listened to Sonny Boy Williamson when last we tried Laphroaig! Colour: pale gold, straw. Nose: it's much more tense than the official ones, with more wet chalk and brew, and even a little raw wool, then melon, white peach, a little cherry, white beer, fresh bread… In other words, the 28 years don't really feel, but it's a very 'natural' nose, which even becomes slightly mentholated over time. It reminds me a little of a non-alcoholic beer by Kronenbourg called Tourtel that we have in France. It's not too bad with a little lemon, I can assure you! Malt: very very good, still quite tense, with just as much chalk and grist, but also green apple this time. Greengage, small white fruits, elderberry, lemon zest… It's really very pretty, with some perfect and quite unusual tension that makes it almost refreshing (watch out!). Finish: medium length, still fresh and fruity, this time a little more honeyed. Really very good. A small touch of coconut as a signature. Comments: excellent, even if it's dangerously refreshing. I think you have been warned.
SGP:651 - 88 points.

Check the index of all Balvenie we've tasted so far