Indie Balvenie and Burnside


April 26, 2024

WF's Little Duos, today indie Balvenie and Burnside

I mean, one rare independent Balvenie by its name, and one of those teaspooned Burnsides that are so good.

(Corrie Cooks)

It's another distillery that, nowadays, extensively practices finishing for its official releases, so we increasingly have to rely on independents to taste fully natural cask versions (bourbon, refill hogsheads, etc.). This kind of situation is becoming more and more common, even among certain top-tier names, which in my opinion do include Balvenie... But I'm rambling again, we love Balvenie anyway and undoubtedly, one cannot blame any particular brand for following a trend that is simply global. How PC was that?

Balvenie 15 yo 1974/1990 (43%, Signatory Vintage, Sailing Ships, Series No1, casks #18103-18130, 1200 bottles)

An antique series by Signatory that strongly recalls the labels of Moon Import. The details, such as the name of the distillery, for example, were displayed on a certificate inside the box, not on the bottle itself, which only displays 'Highland' (and not even Speyside, ha). But we know what to think of the Balvenies from the early 1970s, don't we... Oh, be careful, there was a cask strength version of the same batch, 1,300 bottles at 57.1% vol. Magical (WF 93). Colour: gold. Nose: we're going to start crying because this style has now disappeared, gone, finite, over. Including at Balvenie. Incredible ripe quinces and mirabelles, quality mead, great old Sauternes, bright and juicy sultanas, and above all, lots of beeswax, it's like being in an old library or an antique shop in some chic streets. A sublime nose, extremely 'Balvenie'. Mouth: needless to say, one could drink litres of it. There's a bit of pine sap, but all the rest follows the same line, quince, mirabelle, candied oranges, beeswax, old Sauternes, dried grapes, some old spices (old paprika), figs... Actually, it's dangerous. Finish: medium in length, but sublimely honeyed. Comments: an immense classic, one of the distinctive and mandatory styles of that era, if one may say so. Same situation as with Macallan, we might say, vertig, gone with the wind.
SGP:652 - 93 points.

Burnside 28 yo 1994/2022 (50.5%, Le Gus't, blended malt, hogshead, cask #5143, 219 bottles)

Said to be Balvenie teaspooned with 'fiddich. I did check the official statistics to see if the sales figures for teaspoons in Scotland, and more particularly in the Speyside hamlets, had increased in recent years. It seems not at all, isn't that strange? Apart from that, all these 1994s are quite wonderful in general. Colour: pale gold. Nose: in truth, ripe mirabelle plum and acacia honey are found, just not much else. But it remains very beautiful, with a very nice vanilla, not-so-ripe banana, chalk, touches of papaya, melon and peach, a tiny bit of eucalyptus... With water: oh yes, it loves water. A bit of bread crumb, wool, porridge, then pistachio syrup and acacia flowers. The light eucalyptus is still there. Mouth (neat): a bit hot at first, then more on citrus, oranges, plums, apples and even pears, with even a slight young calvados side. It's very nice. With water: it really loves water, even comes a bit close to the 1974, with a beeswax side that suits Balvenie so well. Finish: quite long, more on malt and fruity beer, like an IPA. Honey and ripe apples in the aftertaste. Comments: maybe not an extremely pronounced profile, but everything it does, it does perfectly well.
SGP:651 - 88 points.

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