Showing posts with label Balblair 10 (Gordon & MacPhail). Show all posts
Showing posts with label Balblair 10 (Gordon & MacPhail). Show all posts

Balblair 10 Years Review


“Pleasant Highlander”

Country: Scotland
Region: Highlands
Brand: Balblair (Gordon & MacPhail)
Type: Single Malt
Age: 10 Years
ABV: 43%

Colour: Light Gold

Nose: Light and Mildly Sweet with Floral Soap, Barley, Vanilla, Dried Fruits, Citrus Peel, Heather Honey, Hay, Grass, Charred Oak, Apple, Cinnamon, Toffee and a hint of Peach Marmalade. The Alcohol is nicely integrated.

Taste: Light, Spicy, Oaky and Herbal. Lots of (Charred) Oak for a 10 Years old. I also find Toffee, Heather Honey, Dusty Road, Orange Peel, Apple, Pepper, Clove, Nutmeg, Ginger and Cinnamon.    

Finish: Middle-Long and Sweet with Fruit Candies, Sweet Barley, Peach, Orange, Heather Honey, Buttered Toast, Charred Oak, Light Licorice, Pepper, Ginger, Mint and Nutmeg. Very Dry towards the end.

I added a few drops of Water. You get additional Floral tones, Barley and Vanilla on the Nose. More Spice, Pear Drops and Vanilla on the Palate. This Balblair 10 allows you to play with a bit of Water.

Rating: 84 

Nose: 21 - Taste: 21 - Finish: 21  - Overall: 21


General Remarks: The Balblair distillery is located in Edderton, Ross-Shire and was founded in 1790 by James McKeddy. It closed Between 1911 and 1949 and changed hands many times before being acquired in 2006 by the Inver House Distillers Group, part of Thai Beverages PLC. Balblair means " The Farm on the Moor". It is sold as Single Malt but it's also used in Blends like Inver House, Hankey Bannister and Pinwinnie Royal. The Balblair 10 Years I'm tasting today matured in a mix of First Fill Ex-Bourbon Barrels as well as some Refill Sherry Hogsheads. It costs around 55 US Dollars. (June 2015). Gordon and MacPhail is a well-known Independent Bottler and Distiller founded in Elgin in 1895. At the moment, the company bottles over 350 expressions from around 70 Distilleries.

Drinking Experience Neat: Good 

Conclusion: Pleasant and Discrete Highland Malt. If you like this type of Whisky it might a great day-to-day dram. The price-quality ratio is certainly okay. It's quite Oaky for a 10 Years old and the Finish is exceptionally Dry. But those are minor points really. This is my first Balblair and it will be nice to compare this Gordon & MacPhail edition to one of the standard distillery bottlings. Look out for that post later this year. In the meantime enjoy this Highland Malt if you like the Flavour profile. It's worth the money!

Jan van den Ende                                                                     June 25, 2015