Balvenie 12yo Doublewood V Balvenie 12yo Signature

A rare head to head tasting for me - taking inspiration from Whiskyfun although unlike Serge who will taste 19 Bowmores at a time I am only doing two Balvenies and 12yo's at that. Anyway here goes!

Balvenie 12yo Doublewood is in Blue Writing and The Signature is in Red Writing

Sig Nose: Dry marzipan, and some dry sherry notes. Quite malty in fact. With time whisky becomes more sherried on the nose.

DW Nose: Still dry and with almonds and the sherry note is more pronounced although there is more of a background creaminess! Plums! And a hint of dark chocolate.

Sig Taste: Initially starts out like it is going to be thick - if only not 40% abv! Again drying and a little woody, touch of marzipan and faint cherries. Reasonably nice just a little thin.

DW Taste: Fuller in the taste - still a little dry and with a touch of hessian sack but strangely in a good way. Also decent amounts of creaminess, reminiscent of ice cream toffee sauce.

Sig Finish: Very short - I thought there was none then a warming hit me in the middle of the throat and subtle oak.

DW Finish: Dry and slightly sherry clawing but fairly short bar the front of the mouth that is puckered dry.

Comment: Both good staple everyday drams but nothing spectacular. If I had to plump for one I would be hard pushed and I would say doublewood edges it on the finish.

Scores: 86 doublewood and 85 signature

Macallan 18yo 1985 43%

Got my hands on a slightly old miniature of 18yo (sherry cask) Macallan tonight, ok the 85 - 18yo wasnt that long ago but (lets sound like an old boy) but it does't seem that long ago since the 18yo was a 1982 vintage and I think they have now released the 1989 vintage>

Ah well I say vintage..... I have been told that up until 1981 it was a true vintage but it changed to have older whiskies in it, recently as you See on this miniature it will say "the youngest whisky was distilled in wxyz year"

Anyway on with the tasting!

Nose: initially very big (is it to big?) obvious big sherry notes but meaty slightly sulphury notes. After giving it time it gets more Calvados like.

Taste: Again this is a big dram, huge sherry a touch of cream as well though - some slight orange notes and a touch of spice.

Finish: A touch of maple syrup in the finish and again big sherry.

Comment: Yes I like this - I like it a lot but actually when you come to scoring it there is nothing amazing about this due to the huge over influnece of sherry (maybe fine oak is a good idea!)

Score: 85/100

ps: will taste again some night when I haven't had 5 whiskies and three pints of guinness!

Springbank 10yo 46% Distillery Bottling

The 10yo from one of the "cult" distilleries - if only I were drinking whisky when all that old stuff was around at far cheaper prices than it goes at at auction for these days - never mind there still is some pretty decent springer on the go just now! so lets how this one is!

Nose: Closed, musty and oily with a waxy fruity note and a faint trace of smoke.

Taste: Initially salty then a smoky oily note rushes through before giving way to heavier chocolatey notes.

Finish: Long a combination of saltiness, wood varnish and musty lemons.

Comment: I like this always have like the springers - would be interesting to try this against some of the first launched 10yo stuff as it has been rumoured that this has been getting better. Would say if anything the nose lets it down slightly.

Score: 85/100 - happy to drink this any day!

Highland Park 15yo

Found this in the pub and thought I would give it a shot!

Nose: initially the caramel kicks in - then typical hp heather honey nose is there. Hints of the sea and and faint whiff of peat.

Taste: rich rounded bit of soft peat and a cracking orangey note. Quite thick mouthfeel with a little woodiness.

Finish: toffee notes and then some more fruity notes

Comment: not a bad dram - hp never is a bad dram - but nothing overly exciting, would rather save money and buy a 12yo.

Score: 85/100

Ballantines 30 Year Old

Having been a fan of the DTC 35 year old blend I thought that I would try another aged blen to see if it stands up to the test. Things have been a bit quite on here of late but have tasted a few things lately so will get them added shortly.

Ballantines 30 Year Old Blend 43%

Nose: Rich, sweet vanilla with a touch of mint.
Taste: A touch of smoke, fairly light with a touch of citrus.
Finish: Fairly fresh, touch of smoke and light citrus notes and fairly dry.
Score: 85/100

A nice dram very well balanced just a little bit thin would have scored higher if it had a bit of ooommmppph!

Brora Old Malt Cask 1981 - 21 year Old

Enough of this foriegn malarky thought that I had best bring us back to Scotland with a wee dram of Brora This is an Old Malt Cask bottling from 1981 that was bottled in 2002. Bottled at the usual Douglas Laing 50% and the label states that it is from a sherry cask. This bottle was bottled for the American market.

Here goes:

Nose: Very sweet, a little perfumed chlorine, perhaps some chocolate.

Taste: Again very sweet but a light sweetness, some orangey notes and dry smokiness and a little bit spicy.

Finish: Decent length - strangely of smoky plasticene - the waxiness is the only real hint that this has seen a sherry cask - i would imagine that it is from at best a second fill sherry cask.

Comment: Pretty decent but nothing to go wild about, has a good smokiness to it but somehow appears a little flat as if something is missing - would say that selling this as a sherry cask is misleading perhaps - I have no problem with people putting refill sherry on the bottles. Overall a good dram but nothing majorly exciting, they have done better Broras.

Score: 85/100