Balmenach 1991 Connoisseurs Choice Gordon & Macphail

Balmenach 1975

Nose: special. A sherry profile but quite different from anything I’ve tasted before. Earthy, with notes of hay and a fern forest. Nuts. Something of soy sauce. Apples. Coffee. Some heather. Rather strange but interesting notes of pine needles! Very complex really. Mouth: oily mouth-feel. Big notes of dried fruits (figs, raisins), candied orange...

Score 90/100

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 24 Year Old 1988 Signatory Vintage for The Nectar

The Nectar, run by Mario Groteklaes, was able to secure bourbon hogshead 2808 from Signatory containing 24 Year Old Balmenach. I put it head-to-head with hogshead 2794 that was bottled in the same year. The nose starts rather closed, but after a few moments it opens up nicely. A touch vegetal (dried grass), but immediately followed by green...

Score 87/100

Balmenach 27 Year Old 1983 Bladnoch Forum

Let us put another couple of casks of Balmenach head-to-head. They are sister casks after all. I will start with this Bladnoch Forum bottling, a Balmenach 1983, cask 2411. The sparring partner is cask 2413, bottled by A.D. Rattray. Honeysweet and creamy nose on all sorts of yellow fruit. Mirabelle, pineapple, peach. Some juicy apples too....

Score 86/100