The Balblair 1990 was released in 2014 as a replacement for the 1989 vintage. I tasted this in a range of several other Balblair whiskies doing a side by side tasting. I don’t want to jump conclusions but this is a fine dram.
Matured in American Bourbon and Spanish ex-Sherry Casks, bottled at 46% vol.
Balblair 1990 tasting notes:
Nose: At first nosing quite heavy sherry influence, dried fruit and sultanas, pushing the fruity distillery character to the back. It’s still there but is rather light. Fresh lemon smell, light honey and a little bit of chocolate, not really expressive here. But a nice mix between the fruits and citrus/lemon smell. Seems like a little bit of oranges in there.
Taste: Fruity, dried fruits and oranges, very nice! Some honey and lemon/citrus coming through and back to the fruity flavours again. Apples (red). Some sweetness coming from the fruit and honey sweetness.
Finish: Sultanas, chocolate, cacao and somewhat drying in the finish. Some spiciness but that remains in the back, very nice! This is the sherry cask speaking, not extremely overpowering at all. A very nice balance! Nice long finish with good flavours remaining.
A fine dram if you ask me, well balanced and definitely a step up from the other bottles in the core range of Balblair, it’s a 24 year old single malt, most stores seem to have this for about € 100,- which I think is a fair price for a 24 year old whisky.
