Review #75: Balmenach 24yrs 1988/2013, Van Wees (The Ultimate), 55.2%, Cask #2795, 252 bottles

three-quarter century

I've made it to 75 reviews. I'll try to make it to 1000, maybe. I'm hoping to know everything by 800 or so, though.

This is Balmenach, about which I know almost nothing. It is part of the Inver House group, which includes OP and Balblair, so I guess it's Thai owned. I think it mostly goes into blends; this page also says that they make gin. I mostly associate it with an overpriced bottle from Chieftain's that came out a few years ago. But I'm optimistic! This very whisky has been listed as a "hot seller" for a few weeks now.

nose: starts on juicy apples, but then takes on crunchy forest smells: moss, thatch, dried leaves, that sort of thing. a little yoghurt with lot of honey on top, some lemon, and then the inside of a barrel. the sweet fruit comes back, but with a lot of eucalyptus. somehow both familiar and strange.

palate: surprisingly sweet and oily. the eucalyptus and lemon and honey come marching back: it's a cough drop, a really good, slightly malty cough drop. it would be cloying, or numbingly harsh, or tart, if not for the combination -- that must be why they make the cough drops that way. it's not so much balanced as it is stable.

finish: more cough drop, a little wood. the fruit comes back a little once everything else dies down.

In the end I have to search myself to find bad things to say about it: the profile is simple, apart from the eucalyptus the flavors aren't that intense, it reminds me of a cough drop. it's still tasty and interesting, though.

score: 87