Balvenie 15 Year Old Sherry Cask Single Barrel

Just got to add - I said the finish was long but half an hour later I can now taste extreme oak-wood tannins. Mad, but great!

Nice review, this reminds me that a bought a couple bottles a few years ago. I need to open one and give it taste. Is there a batch number on the bottle?

@Benancio - I can tell you it is Cask 10134. Regarding Batch Number, I'm not that great at deciphering whisky bottle codes. But it does have 19 indented on the centre bottom of the bottle with a code of 2164 L1 around it. So maybe Batch 19?

@Nemesis101, thanks for your review. I am looking forward to getting a taste of this one. I love the 17 yo Balvenie Doublewood. I cannot say that I have seen consistency with Balvenie, though. Not at all, actually. At its best, and maybe 70% of the time, Balvenie is wonderful. Where I am this 15 yo is getting pretty pricey, up around $ 80-90. Prices are rising for Scottish malt. I do very much hope to try it though.

@Victor - Cheers. Maybe I've just been lucky but most Balvenie releases I've tried have been great. The 12YO Double-Wood is what it is - an entry-level but still very pleasant drink. The 17YO Double-Wood and the two Bourbon & Sherry-cask 15YO Single Barrels I've tried are all excellent. Maybe the one not-so-great one was the 14YO Caribbean Cask but that could just be my personal taste rather than anything wrong with it. The rising costs though are getting slightly prohibitive now though - this was £75+ in the UK so one I had to carefully select when treating myself a couple of weeks ago.

@Nemesis101, the Balvenie litany? For me:

10 Founders Reserve: excellent from beginning to end. I own several bottles of it. Better on average than any of the 12s, or the lesser 15s. It is a crime against humanity that they discontinued it

12 Doublewood: 1) first bottle totally non-descript and nothing-y, 2) second bottle given to me I gave away; it turned out to be very good, 3) all other samples, good to very good

12 Signature: good flavours, but just too dilute

14 Caribbean Cask: good to great, but it might take months of air time to open up

15 Single Barrel (bourbon): 1)first sample, not too good, but probably because it was an old bar sample, 2) next sample great, 3) first bottle solidly good, but not outstanding; that one doesn't age well with the bottle open

17 Madeira Finish: didn't like the sample I had, despite the raves of many

17 Doublewood: a lovely sample; haven't bought a bottle yet, mostly because of the price

21 Portwood: 1)I've had several outstanding samples, 2) my bottle of Balvenie 21 Portwood is good, but not the equal to all the other samples of it I have had from other sources

My experiences with Balvenie have been so mixed that I do not rush out to buy any of their new releases. I am happy to sample the ones I haven't tried, but I don't plan to buy bottles to do so.

I liked the 15 YO single cask I bought a few years ago for my uncle. I thought I bought the same cask bottle for myself but I'm not so sure.

@victor, in terms of price, I paid >$100 for it in Ontario, and before it was discontinued the price jumped about 30% to $145

This new sherried SB 15 is very tasty stuff, but the price is a bit too high ($105). I've been meaning to get a bottle of the DW 17, but it's around $120. I also enjoyed the old bourboned SB15, even with the extreme batch variation, as each was high quality. Absolute crime to drop it! The new SB 12 is not nearly as good and now costs more. Not sure what to do, as I really enjoy Balvenie products (except Caribbean Cask), but the prices are ridiculous. I can get GD 15 and save $20! Easy choice! I'm afraid they are approaching my "no buy zone", like HP and Macallan already did.

@Taco, I like your term "no buy zone".

So much of the market is getting to be quite expensive. I like The Boss Hog Rye, barrel strength from Alberta Distillers Limited by way of Vermont. But $ 200 for a bottle? Come on! I passed up Pappy Van Winkle 23 yo for $ 200 just several years ago.

@Nemesis101, thanks for your comparison of the 15 Sherry Cask with the 17 yo Doublewood. I just recently finally bought a bottle of the 17 yo Doublewood because I just fell in love with it after a friend poured me about 125 ml total over the course of a party at his house. Wonderful whisky. Expensive, but wonderful. I am gathering from your comments that you consider the 15 Sherry Cask to be fairly similar in its characteristics?

@Victor - it has been over 2 years since I last sampled the 17YO Doublewood but I do recall them being similar. From memory, the 17YO was slightly richer, maybe even creamier. Whereas the 15YO Sherry has more pronounced fruits and a sharper style. You've got me wanting to try the 17 Doublewood again now tbh - it's a pity it is just so pricey.

Though very tasty it is rather expensive for what it is - but yes they have managed to marry the Balvenie spirit nicely with a good ex-Sherry cask. Blood oranges and caramel, I'd say.