Balmenach-Glenlivet 30 Year Old 1971 Chairman's Stock Cadenhead's

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

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

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 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