Balblair 29-year-old (D.1990, B.2020) Connoisseurs Choice / 58.4%/ 0.7l
- In the spring of 2018 family owned whisky specialist Gordon & MacPhail (founded 1895) announced cutting their whisky portfolio down from 14 whisky ranges to five.
Product description
In April 2018, renowned independent whisky publisher Gordon & MacPhail, which has been operating since 1895, reduced the number of its “release series” from fourteen to five.
Among the lucky five was Connoisseurs Choice, in our opinion the most recognisable Gordon & MacPhail series, launched in the 1960s by George Urquhart. Currently, we find single cask editions bottled at cask strength. The Balblair presented here was added to the series on 4 February 2020 as Batch #20/017. Distilled in 1990, the whisky spent three decades in a refill sherry butt no. 4166, and was bottled at cask strength (58.4% abv) and without chill filtration in an edition of 469 bottles. (G&M tasting note.)
Aroma: delicate notes of cinnamon precede aromas of stewed plums and orange peel; after a while, sorbet and accompanying strawberry jam come to the fore.
Palate: Toasted malt, ripe green apples and a pleasant oaky bitterness start; a Christmas fruit cake rich in dried fruit precedes the arrival of black pepper and delicate notes of cashew nuts.
Finish: quite long, with notes of anise and dried ginger.