Whisky Review: The Balvenie Single Barrel 12

Located in Dufftown, Scotland, The Balvenie is one of the more well known single malt distilleries in the world. Like many other scotch lovers, Balvenie was one of the first single malt whiskies I ever tried—specifically their 12 year Doublewood was one of my gateway drams into the world of single malts. But after developing a love for more heavily peated and/or sherried whiskies, I’ve mostly ignored Balvenie over of the last few years. Recently I decided to try a few of their offerings, such as the Single Barrel 12. As the name would imply, this whisky is bottled from a single barrel of Balvenie that was aged 12 years. Aged exclusively in first fill ex-bourbon barrels, each bottle is labeled with the cask number from which the whisky was drawn, and the bottle number of the barrel (which is no more than 300, according to the label). My bottle is number 240 from cask number 1432.

Type: Single Malt Scotch
Region: Speyside
ABV: 47.8%
Non chill-filtered

Nose: Apples. Honey. Oak. Mint leaves. Light and a little boring.

Palate: Immediate burst of honey on arrival. Heather. Malty. A touch of menthol. The bourbon barrel influence is evident—plenty of vanilla, butterscotch, and a bit of American oak. A hint a spice comes out towards the backend. The mouthfeel is creamy, but thin. Ultimately it’s the honey that dominates.

Finish: Vanilla, mint, honey, and oak, but it doesn’t stick around too long.

Overall: This is not bad, but it’s somewhat boring. I enjoy the creamy mouthfeel, and the honey on the palate is nice, but there’s just not enough depth or complexity. This is my second bottle of the single barrel 12 year (my previous bottle was was number 244 from cask number 5888), and I do have to give Balvenie props for the consistency between bottles. Even though the two bottles I’ve had are from different casks, my tasting notes were nearly identical for each. Also in both cases, the whisky substantially improved after I got about halfway through the bottle, mainly due to a more pronounced honey note developing.

If you’re in the mood for some whisky with a strong honey note, this hits the spot.

Buy again? Well, I’ve bought two bottles. I’ll probably buy another one at some point, but I’m not in a hurry to do so.

Score: 82/100

Questions about my scoring system? Refer to the Review Method & Scoring Scale page. 

Enjoying the content on Meade Mule? Help keep the drink reviews flowing by supporting me on Patreon.