Balmenach 7 Year Old 2013 3006 Whisky

3006 Whisky is a young, Dutch bottler that has pleasantly surprised me in the past – albeit with single grain whisky. So it is possible that this Balmenach, selected by Jop Boer, just might be one that can actually please me. We’ll see. The cask number suggest that this may in fact have been found in the Signatory warehouses. The malt sticks to the glass.

The nose is relatively closed and needs quite a bit of hand warmth to show itself. Almonds, apple sauce and vanilla. Pencil shavings. The crust of a double-baked white bread. White chocolate. It’s okay-ish, I guess. Still leaves a lot to be desired – on the nose at least.

Now, that’s better. On the palate it opens up beautifully. And the alcohol is well-integrated. No gasping for air here. Turns a bit candy-like on Superman logos (peach candy), gummi cherries and Haribo bears, lots of vanilla and even some banana.

The first bitterness as if from grapefruit and quinine appears in the finish, but it remains more than sweet enough to avoid becoming astringent.

Nicely piquant, but never biting. Nice. Around 50 EUR. Thanks to Buds & Barrels for the sample.

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