Balvenie has always been a hit-or-miss distillery for me in terms of their offerings. Their now-discontinued 15 Year Single Barrel from ex-bourbon barrels remains one of my favorite pours and constituted the first whisky I purchased in volume to 'bunker away' for the future. Sadly, the current rendition of the 15 Year Single Barrel, drawn from ex-sherry barrels, fell flat to my palate and consequently my half-full bottle was gifted to a friend who enjoyed the pour far more than I. Similarly, neither Balvenie's popular 12 Year Doublewood or 14 Year Caribbean Cask resonated with my tastes and consequently left me cautious when contemplating the purchase of an unknown Balvenie offering.
In 2017, Balvenie debuted a 14-year Peat Week release. The premise - beginning in 2002, Balvenie dedicated one week of their production schedule to producing and distilling a heavily peated malted barley. Balvenie's motivation, according to Internet scuttlebutt, was primarily to give their production team experience in producing a peated malted barley (Balvenie is one of the few Scottish distilleries that still produce, rather than purchase, their malted barley).
Two traits make the 14-year Peat Week a noteworthy offering from Balvenie: first, and most glaring, Balvenie traditionally only distills non-peated malt and second, Balvenie opted to use 100% Highland peat rather than Islay peat; geographically appropriate considering Balvenie is located in the Speyside region of the Highlands. When most folks think peated whisky, they think of Islay malts - Laphroaig, Ardbeg, Lagavulin, etc. Each of those Islay malts deliver an earthy, grassy, bog fire due to Islay's peat characteristics. Highland peat however is a totally different animal. Rather than emanating from swampy bogs adjacent to coastlines, Highland peat comes from forest-dense, rocky, mountainous terrain and as such is more mineral and dry-wood smoke.
Once distilled, the whisky is placed in American oak barrels, almost certainly ex-bourbon barrels, and left to age for fourteen years. Come bottling time, Balvenie do the whisky a great service by bottling in natural color, without chill-filtration, and at a very generous 48.3% alcohol by volume. The label found on the packaging and bottle displays the year of distillation, essentially that Peat Week's vintage if you will.
2017 saw the release of the 2002 distillation year and this year saw the release of the 2003 distillation year. When the 2002 vintage appeared on the shelf, my apprehension was overshadowed by my curiosity to try a Highland peated malt, a fairly rare style of whisky these days, from a distillery that has both excited and disappointed my palate through the years. Odd isn't it - the allure of a gamble that you know will not deliver average results, it's either going to be cheers or tears; such gambles often bring out the inner-optimist of even the most resolute of pessimists. The pour, happily, was love at first sniff and sip - campfire is most prevelant, but the smoke is very controlled. If I were to compare the 'smokiness' of other peated malts to the Balvenie, I would score Laphroaig or Ardbeg a 9 out of 10, Highland Park a 2 out of 10 and the Balvenie a 4 out of 10.
The ABV is high enough to give the whisky an impression of feistiness, but no where near harsh or rough. Unsurprisingly, the malt does fantastically well with a drop or two of water which opens up more fruit and honey notes without diminishing the peat smoke one bit.
I have been fortunate enough to purchase bottles from both the 2002 and 2003 distillation years. They are predictably similar, but not as identical as one might guess. To my tastes, the 2003 distillation year is slightly more peaty, perhaps a 5 out of 10 using the scale mentioned previously. This increased peat could be due to the barley used in the 2003 run or it could also be due to my opened 2002 bottle having oxidized over the course of the year as opposed to my freshly opened 2003 bottle. Regardless, both are darn enjoyable and recommended to any peated whisky fan. If you do happen to procure a bottle, be sure to taste the Balvenie Peat Week alongside an Islay peated whisky - I think you will be surprised at how the subtle differences between Highland and Islay peat really do stand out when experienced alongside one another.
No comments:
Post a Comment