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Monday, December 23, 2013
The Latest Tunnage: Balvenie Tun 1401 Batch 9
Balvenie made a big splash last year with the release of their Tun 1401, a vatting of bourbon and sherry cask whiskeys. Since then, they have released a number of different releases in different markets. Each release is composed of a different vatting. In the US, we saw Tun 1401 Batch 3 and Batch 6. The latest US release is Batch 9. This one is composed of 11 bourbon casks whiskeys and three sherry casks whiskeys.
Balvenie Tun 1401 Batch 9, 49.3% abv ($280)
The nose is remarkably fruity with grapes, figs and candied fruit. The palate is rich and sherried with a syrupy mouthfeel. It starts out moderately sweet but gets drier on the tongue and toward the end the sherry recedes and malty notes emerge. The finish is sherry, apple cider and bubble gum.
This has great balance and is nearly flawless in execution, and on top of that, it's incredibly drinkable. It's not quite as outstanding as Batch 3, but I prefer it to Batch 6.
Batch 9 reinforces that the Tun 1401 series continues to be a source of great whisky.
See LA Whiskey Society reviews for Balvenie Tun 1401 Batch 9 (most of LAWS likes it even more than I do).
Looking forward to opening mine soon.
ReplyDelete(You say of LAWS, "they like it even more than I do"; are you not one of them?)
MAO, yes, I'm one of them. I meant that the rest of them like it more than I do, but I changed the wording to satisfy even the most annoying reader.
ReplyDeleteThis just confirms to me I should've held on to those two bottles of Batch 3 I encountered (and bought and sold at cost) a while back.
ReplyDeleteI no longer feel syntactical confusion about your status re LAWS.
ReplyDelete