The Balvenie - Single Barrel 12 yo - 1st fill #12760 - Tasting Notes

From The Balvenie Distillery at the tour we got a sample home (due to us being the designated drivers) from bottle 62 from cask #12760 to enjoy at home. What does The Balvenie tell us about this range of Single Barrel First Fill 12 years old?

The Balvenie Single Barrel First Fill has been aged in a first fill, ex-bourbon cask for at least 12 years. Almost all Scotch Whisky is matured in casks previously used by Bourbon distillers. When brought to Scotland and used for the very first time they are known as ‘First Fill’.

Our Malt Master samples the aged whisky, cask by cask and selects only those characterised by sweetness and subtle vanilla oak to be bottled as The Balvenie Single Barrel First Fill. A series of “limited editions” - Each bottle is one of no more than 300 drawn from a single cask and each is hand-numbered and carries the number of the cask in which it matured. 

Dr Andrew Forrester, UK Brand Ambassador says: “As no two casks will ever produce the same whisky and there are no more than 300 bottles from any single cask, every batch of The Balvenie Single Barrel First Fill will have a unique identity. Due to the experience David Stewart has from over 50 years at The Balvenie however, we can expect a consistent character to this dram and boy, it is a good one”.

On the nose I get lots of creamy notes, sweet, bit charred wood notes, spices, vanilla, puff pastry and toast. There is some fruit sweetness lying underneath a creamy clover honey layer. Banana, red apple, raisins and strangely makes me think of some crispy backed bacon and a stack of american pancakes with maple syrup.

The palate continues lovely with these same notes, feels like a balanced dram, rich, sweet and full of fruits. Some lovely malty notes underneath mixing with some citrus freshness, and again with that the same feeling I got for the pancakes on the nose. I find the finish a bit too short I must say, a bit soft, and just giving me vanilla and honey mostly.

For the price of this one I am not too blown away with it. It is a nice dram, like it for sure, but think I would reach more quickly to another bottle from their line if I had the choice. Never the less. It is a good and balanced dram, that scores at least a good 7 out of 10 for me.