Whisky Rev-U 1 Balvenie DoubleWood 12 Years Old

Hi Malt Mates Today I post my very first official whisky review. 

The whisky that I’m going to taste is the Balvenie DoubleWood which is aged for 12 years. Before I get started I want to write a couple of words about the distillery. Balvenie is a Speyside distillery that is located just outside Dufftown. It was founded in 1892 by William J. Grant who is also the founder of the Glenfiddich Distillery. The two distilleries are actually located on the same site and are still owned by William Grant & Son. You can check out their website here

The whisky is bottled at the legal minimum of 40% ABV and is most likely coloured and chillfiltered. As the name tells us it is matured in two different kinds of casks.

As it is written on the bottle it is first matured in traditional whisky oak, which I assume are bourbon barrels (we can’t be 100% sure though). After that first longer period of maturation it gets a finish in first fill European oak Sherry casks. But enough of the talking let’s start nosing that whisky shall we?

Nose: The first things that hit my nose are sweet notes of honey and toffee. Those are followed by aromas of vanilla and oranges. Further I get milk chocolate and raisins. This is a very intriguing nose indeed so let’s go on and try it.

Palate: The whisky starts the same on the palate as it did on the nose with honey dominating in the beginning. There is also caramel. As I keep it in the mouth the sweetness goes back and the whisky gets dryer with some spice notes and I also get the taste of apples. You can definitely taste the influence of the first fill European oak sherry cask finish. The mouthfeel is lovely and very delicate and you get hardly any burning sensation from the alcohol. For my taste it could be a little more powerful though.

Finish: On the finish you get those spices from the oak that I mentioned. You also get some lovely bittersweet dark chocolate and cocoa. The finish is medium long.

This is a fine Scotch single malt whisky with a delicious sweetness and nice wood influence. In my opinion this is one of the best whiskies to recommend to someone who wants to really get into enjoying Scotch. This is the reason why I chose this to be suspect to my very first rev-U. I gave this to a lot of people who normally don't drink whisky and the feedback has always been great. Personally I would like if Balvenie bottled it at a higher strength like 46% ABV and gave it a more natural presentation (no colouring and chillfiltration). At the price that you pay for this I think it has great value for money and makes a fantastic daily dram.