scotch review

The Balvenie Caribbean Cask 14-Year Old Single Malt Review

The Balvenie Caribbean Cask 14-year-old single malt is one of the first Scotches I purchased.  I’ve heard good things about The Balvenie’s core range, and I find the process of “finishing” whisky interesting.  Here we have a whisky that’s aged 14 years in “traditional oak whisky casks,” then finished in ex-Caribbean rum casks.  There’s no official note on how long the whisky is finished in these rum barrels, but I’m guessing it’s just a few months.

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The Balvenie DoubleWood 12-Year-Old Single Malt Review
Photo courtesy William Grant & Sons

Photo courtesy William Grant & Sons

The Balvenie DoubleWood is a Speyside single malt whisky.  Aged 12 years, this whisky is matured in two different types of casks.  First it ages in a traditional oak whisky cask then it’s transferred to a first fill sherry cask.  I assume traditional oak whisky casks mean they are using ex-bourbon barrels, which would impart some vanilla and spice to the whisky.  The 12 year is the youngest of their core line of whiskies, although a 17-year-old expression of DoubleWood is available.  Owned by William Grant & Sons, The Balvenie is positioned as a premium whisky along the likes of The Macallan, its biggest competitor.

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Glenfiddich 15-Year-Old Single Malt Scotch Review
Photo courtesy William Grant & Sons.

Photo courtesy William Grant & Sons.

Moving right along to our next Glenfiddich tasting – their 15-year-old expression.  This one is a bit different than the 12-year-old in that it is solera aged.  The distillery has a large wooden vat made from oak.  It’s filled with matured whiskies of different ages, the youngest of which is 15 years old.  Filled in 1998, the vat is emptied (for bottling) to the halfway mark, and is filled with more whisky.  Because the vat is always at least half full, over time some interesting flavors may develop between the older whisky and the newly added whisky.  The oldest whiskies in the vat date back to 1983.  Solera aging is nothing new.  It’s been used to age wine and spirits for years.  Glenfiddich 15-year-old is matured in ex-sherry casks, ex-bourbon casks and new oak casks, so I expect to find a nice balance between vanilla, fruit and oak.

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