The Balvenie Tun 1401 Batch 8
- Category: Speyside single malt scotch whisky
- Origin: Balvenie Distillery
- ABV: 50.2%
- Cost: £150
What they say:
To craft The Balvenie Tun 1401, Malt Master David Stewart transfers specially selected casks from across the ages to a marrying tun cared for by the distillery’s in-house team of coopers. The contents of these rare casks spent three months ‘getting to know’ one another in marrying tun number 1401, from which this single malt takes its name. The most recent release, Batch 8, is characterised by citrus fruits, vanilla and honey, has recently been bottled at an abv of 50.2% and will be available from June 2013 in Canada, Australia, the UK, France and a number of other European countries.
Floral and fruity on the nose, with hints of lightly toasted spices, brown sugar and ripe vanilla balancing the gentle oak tannins. The rich, fruity taste has a warming spiciness of cinnamon and ginger, underpinned by maple syrup, sweet vanilla and tangy citrus notes. Citrus, vanilla and a gentle oakiness are evident on the finish.
What we say:
Simply supreme! Sadly intended to retail at £150/bottle though sold out from The Balvenie almost immediately, spotted at anywhere from £200 to £400 plus in various Edinburgh whisky shops already…makes this way out of my price range to buy a bottle.
Colour:
Red copper
Nose:
Oranges and cinnamon, acetone [nail polish remover], pine needles, green herbs, dunnage [blocks of old used wood, packaging material], leather, reminiscent of oak casks in the warehouse, as you dip your nose deeper into the glass each of these aromas build and shift across your nose.
Taste:
This is a very oily and syrupy dram that fills the mouth with a rich fruit cake flavour, some very herbaceous flavours in this from some of the older cask maturations, suede leather, oak wood and more deep fruits like rum & raisins.
Finish:
The finish was supremely smooth and reminded me of vanilla butter fudge melting on the tongue leaving a slightly orangey tang at the end
Originally sampled at The Balvenie Whisky Fete Edinburgh
Overall:
A simply wonderful expression from Balvenie, unfortunately Batch #8 was the last out of Tun1401. A new, even bigger Tun 1509 was constructed allowing bigger batches and better global distribution of these supreme statements of David Stewart’s marrying capabilities using aged Balvenie stock.
The Whiskyphiles 