Balvenie 30 Year Old

I've been on a bit of a whisky sabbatical of late choosing to concentrate on my day job for a change. One that affords me the luxury of buying all my whisky in the first place!. And I had decided I'd keep November light and easy in anticipation of December and all it's festivities.

I had to, however, make an exception when my local distributor called and asked if I wanted to interview Dr Sam Simmons, Global Brand Ambassador for Balvenie and share some drams with him.

For those of you who know me know that I'm a sucker for meeting important people from the whisky industry just to see what makes them and their distillery tick. What I didn't know was how likeable and approachable Sam (or Dr Whisky as he is affectionately called) would be.

After conducting a very honest and entertaining interview (which can be found HERE) it was time to move on to the whiskies.

After going through the 12 Double Wood, 15 Single Barrel & 21 Portwood it was time to taste the star of the evening: the 30 year old.

Constantly distracted by Sam's cheerful banter I tried to focus and get my senses working for this one. The thirty year old is a mix of ex-Bourbon and European Sherry married together by David Stewart. My sample is from a brand new bottle and served at 47.3%

Warm honey. Orange peel. Dry fruits. Spices. Nutmeg. Cinnamon. There's prunes. Walnuts. Leather. Green tobacco. Caramel. Black peppercorns. Oak. Figs. Toffee. Wonderful sherry. Chocolate. David Stewart really knows how to craft a nose, I'll tell you that. It's the best part of every Balvenie, in my opinion. This is close to being perfect. 24/25

Big. Oak. Drying. But in a nice way. Dried fruits. Dark honey. Cinnamon. Apples. Caramel. Burnt sugar. Toffee. Candied orange peel. Roasted almonds. I like the palate. It's got layers and feels mature thanks to the oak. The oak is on the verge of being a bit much but is then subdued as time goes by. Quite beautiful 23/25

Nice and long. Tobacco. Leather. Oak.

This is a really good premium whisky. While priced quite high I think it's one of the few that are close to being worth the extra cash. I really liked it. I think I liked it a bit more given my recent meeting with the lovely Sam Simmons, who is a whisky geek first and then a brand ambassador. At least, that's what he said and I have no reason to doubt him.

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