Tasting Notes

Producing WhiskyCast has given me the opportunity to taste some really amazing whiskies, and I’m pleased to share my tasting notes with you here. You can search my entire database of tasting notes from this page, and I hope you’ll find it useful.

The Balvenie Tun 1509 Batch #1

Country: Scotland

Region: Speyside

Type: Single Malt

Bottler: Distiller

ABV: 47.1%

Score: 92 Points

The Balvenie Tun 1509 Batch 1. Image courtesy The Balvenie/William Grant & Sons. This is the initial release from The Balvenie’s Tun 1509, a new blending tun four times the size of Malt Master David Stewart’s previous Tun 1401. The larger tun was used to blend 35 American Oak casks and 7 European Oak ex-Sherry butts for several months before bottling. The canister includes details and Stewart’s tasting notes for each of the 42 casks, a rarity in the secretive world of whisky blending.

The nose is sweet with honey, candied orange peel, a hint of brown sugar, and notes of coconut, toffee, and plums. The taste is syrupy-sweet with honey, vanilla, a touch of cinnamon, orange peel, grapefruit, and toffee notes. The finish has a lingering tartness with hints of licorice, toffee, and dark chocolate. Excellent! (October, 2014)