Braes Of Glenlivet 16 Years Old Small Batch (46%, WM Cadenhead, Bourbon Barrels, 606 Bottles, 2013)

• Category: Speyside single malt scotch whisky
• Origin: Braes of Glenlivet [Braeval] Distillery
• Bottling: Cadenhead’s Small Batch
• ABV: 46%
• Cost: £48.01

What they say:

A WM Cadenhead bottling of single malt from the Braes of Glenlivet, which was matured for 16 years before being bottled. The distillery is now known as Braeval, eschewing the ‘Glenlivet’ from its name in the 1990s.

What I say:

I can’t remember exactly where this sample came from but likely from Richard at Adventures in Whiskyland or may well have been one of the whiskies used in an Edinburgh University Water of Life Society tasting. Either way it most likely found its way to me as I really haven’t sampled much from Braeval and the only two I have were distilled pre-1990 and so were still able to correctly bear the old Braes Of Glenlivet distillery name.

Colour:

Very light champagne gold (3/20), large quick droplet tears leave thick legs

Nose:

Drying woody oak, freshly planed timber, backed with a strong vanilla and coconut, Orchard fruits; crisp green Granny Smith apples, Williams’ bon chrétien pear, peach, a little vinegary and spice or spirit burn, cereal malted barley flour.

Taste:

Beautiful fresh and fruity pressed apple and pear juices (similar to varietals on the nose), ripe and sweet with a little oak wood backbone, some malted cereal barley notes, with a little dry hay, more apples green and red, sweeter, juicy with honey and syrup, almond and/or marzipan

Finish:

Medium, sweet and robustly fruity

Overall:

Wow, simply delicious, so full of fresh fruit flavours, clean and crisp, juiced and sweetened plays out with hints of cereal barley and oak as foils to that crisp fruitiness.

Score: 87/100

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