Balvenie 14-letni The Week of Peat / 48,3%/ 0,7l

In the spring of 2019 Balvenie Distillery launched a new range of single malt whisky called the Balvenie Stories Collection. The range is “designed to bring to life the tales of character, endeavor and craft of those at Balvenie through generations”.

A Week of Peat, the second installment in the series, is a sister expression to Balvenie Peat Week, launched in the fall of 2017. The whisky honors Ian Millar, the distillery manager, who installed peat burner on the side of the kiln after returning from trip to Islay in 2001. Since 2002 Balvenie Distillery has reserved one week a year to distilling whisky from barley malted to specification of 30ppm phenols using Highland peat. The whisky is aged for 14 years in white American oak barrels and bottled at 48.3% abv.

Nose: sweet and smoky with delicate earthy and floral notes, honey, vanilla, butterscotch, orange marmalade, apples, pears, roasted nuts and oak.

Palate: nicely balanced, gentle peat smoke, vanilla, honeycomb, brown sugar, oranges, apricots, apples, pears, cinnamon, hints of licorice and cloves.

Finish: fairly long, with notes of vanilla cream, honey, summer fruit, oak, mixed spice and whiffs of peat smoke.