27/03/2014

Old Ballantruan 'The Peated Malt', Speyside Glenlivet, (Tomintoul) 50 %.

Old Ballantruan is an unusually peated (55 ppm) single malt from the Tomintoul distillery. As you may already know, generally the heavy phenolic notes are quite unusual for Speyside distilleries. Old Ballantruan bottling is also available as a 10 yo version but this one in question has no age statement, it's probably around 6-8 years old.Let's find out if it's comparable to smoky Islayers.

Color: Gold

Nose: Sweaty gymsocks with notes of cardboard, obviously juvenile. Peatsmoke. Creamy chocolate & fudge. A fairly strong whiff of alcohol.

Palate: Quite thin in body. Sweet malted barley. Zest of orange. Pealed almonds. Gentle smoke covers the palate from start to finish. Some distant metallic notes.

Finish: Fudge. Medium lenght.

Not bad at all. What comes to peated malts, I've had worse from Islay, a lot worse. Extra points for the nice packaging.

www.tomintoulwhisky.com


Old Ballantruan 'The Peated Malt', Speyside Glenlivet, (Tomintoul) 50 %.

Old Ballantruan es un whisky de malta única de turba excepcional (55 ppm) de la destilería Tomintoul; en general las notas fenólicas fuertes son bastante extraordinarias para las destilerias de Speyside. Del Old Ballantruan existe también una versión que ha sido añejado por 10 años pero éste producto en cuestión no tiene declaración de edad, tendrá unos 6-8 años.Vamos a ver si es comparable con los whiskies humosos de islay.

Color: Oro

Nariz: Calcetines de deporte sudorosos con notas de cartón, obviamente juvenil. Humo de turba. Chocolate cremoso & fudge (dulce de azúcar). Un olorcito bastante fuerte de alcohol.

Paladar: De cuerpo bastante delgado. Cebada dulce malteada. Cáscara de naranja. Almendras peladas. Un humo suave cubre la paladar desde el principio hasta el final. Algunas notas metálicas lejanas.

Final: Fudge (dulce de azúcar). De largo medio.

No es nada malo. En cuanto a maltas turbosas, he probado unas peores de Islay, mucho peores.

www.tomintoulwhisky.com

1 comment:

  1. The first thing that comes to mind when sipping and tasting this incredible whisky is the nose. You'll be tempted to thing you've mistakenly poured a dram from that bottle of Macallan 12 year at the back of your bar. You'll be puzzled at first, but being an appreciator you'll just shrug and move on to the palate.

    This is where you get kicked in the teeth. There's SMOKE here. And not just any kind of smoke, but the oakiness of an American bourbon. This is bonfire smoke, rather than the earthiness of a peat. But then, upon settling, you'll realize there's an earthiness here that makes American bourbon so light in comparison.

    The finish is where you find the pepper. As a young whisky, and relatively high in volume (100 proof, actually), there's a lot of heat to this dram. But it's not the straight astringency you might think. It's a far earthier experience, and this is where the pettiness of this speyside whisky comes into play.

    This has become easily one of my very favorite drams. It's an affordable price point in my area, and as my tasting notes might attest, seems to be the perfect marriage of the range of flavors you'd find in a sherried speyside married to an earthy Islay single malt.

    I really like this stuff.

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