BiggAndyy the Magazine

Ok, looks like this is turning out to be a journey through the bottom shelf of Scotch Whiskys. I did not have a lot of money so I was playing this one on the cheap and did not get a fully aged Scotch. Rule of thumb, if there is not an age specifically listed (usually prominently, a selling point) on the bottle then it is usually aged in the cask between 3 to 6 years. Being a blended Scotch then the ages can be wildly different between constituent products.

Ballantaine’s Finest is the initial offering of the Ballantine product line. The Ballantine family includes 12, 17, 21, and 30 year old members. This is a relatively inexpensive scotch but not quite bottom shelf, the bottle is still made of glass.

The color is a pale straw, this usually indicates a young or immature scotch. As the scotch ages in the cask it takes on some of the colors of the previous contents and the wood itself. The aroma is very pleasing, almost citrus in its initial attack. Undiluted this is a very easy offering to nose deeply, not overpowering at all. The swirl is nice and even and coats the glass evenly, no runners.

After my last review (and ruining a glass of this scotch) I am going to forgo the water dilution until I get a graduated cylinder so straight up here I come. I am going to do the initial taste, swoosh it around my mouth to get a full appreciation of the whisky, and pull some air through it. By pulling air through the sample I get to bring into the experience both my sense of taste AND smell, making the more complex and subtle flavors explode with much more force.

Unfortunately, the finish tends to be a lot stronger using this method. Well, fortunately for me, I like a strong finishing scotch. I hope you do as well.

On second nose I want to add I think there is a hint of a pine aroma; a great smelling scotch for being the youngest brother of this family.

This one is a tongue tingler. The first thing to hit you is the “meatiness” of the flavor. I don’t want to use the word heavy because that is not quite right. Full flavored is not going far enough though. After letting the slight antiseptic effect pass of this potent full bodied scotch I dive in for another taste.

For an inexpensive blend, this is a nice scotch going down and a very strong finish. Definitely NOT a meal scotch, nor even an after meal digestivo. This scotch doesn’t want to share the limelight. Maybe a highback leather chair, a Drew Estate Cigar, and a good friend to share the moment with and discuss the solutions to all the world’s problems is the perfect evening for this scotch.

I bet you are wondering why the Chivas Tag is still being used for this review? Probably figured, “Stupid lazy souse, too drunk to check his tags.” Well, in this case you would be wrong. According to the Ballantine website the Chivas Brothers LTD. bought the Ballantine company in 2005. I wonder how many Scottish distilleries are owned by multinational conglomerates?

This entry was posted on Wednesday, October 18th, 2006 at 11:21 pm and is filed under Whisky Wednesday. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.
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