Balmenach Glenlivet 1971 15 Year Old Moncrieffe Independent Bottling

Balmenach 14 Year Old 2001 for Save Lars Whisky

After the peated Bruichladdich and the bourbon-matured Auchentoshan, we wanted something special for the third and final bottling of the Save Lars Whisky. After more than a year of looking for the right cask, we finally found it in this outstanding Balmenach, a fruity Speyside whisky which matured for 14 years on a refill sherry cask. Fairly...

Score 84/100

Balmenach 24 Year Old 1988 Signatory Vintage

The Cask Strength Collection by Signatory has known releases from almost every single distillery. Including this Balmenach, a rather obscure distillery in Speyside. I will put this hogshead 2794 head-to-head with hogshead 2808 that was bottled especially for the Belgian bottler The Nectar. A very vegetal nose, this Balmenach! Freshly cut grass,...

Score 86/100

Balmenach 8 Year Old 2008 Connoisseurs Choice

I must confess, the last time I tasted a Balmenach was when I released my own Save Lars Whisky over a year ago. This youngling from 2008 is a vatting of one sherry and several bourbon casks and bottled under the Connoisseur Choice label from Gordon & Macphail. The nose is both sweet and mildly sour, which does not seem to work well. It has a...

Score 79/100

Balmenach 18 Year Old Deerstalker

Balmenach does not have any official bottlings (bar the Flora & Fauna) and is only bottled by Deerstalker. There is a 10 and 12 year old, but we are lucky enough to try the 18 year old. It matured on a sherry cask. Balmenach closed in 1993, but in 1997 Inver House Distillers reopened it. They also produce gin since 2009. The nose is a weird...

Score 80/100