Taste: The Balvenie DoubleWood

There are single malts you enjoy and do not question. If someone was to ask me which core malts I would expect to find easily in Scotland that form the backbone of any whisky selection then I'd say the Talisker 10 and the Laphroaig 10 year old. There are others from Clynelish, Balblair and Aberlour's A'bunadh that are just as good but thinner on the ground. Another inclusion for that initial list is the Balvenie DoubleWood, widely available and thoroughly enjoyable. So much so, I actually forgot I haven't done a taste review for it yet!

Word of advice: Ignore the Talisker Storm with it's fancy packaging and pick up the 10 year dram instead. Diageo would prefer you fall victim to the Storm given the choice, but the 10 year old is such a good bottle and bizarrely is priced cheaper than the NAS Storm.

Earlier this year I attended the Balvenie whisky Fete and enjoyed a session through the main releases the distillery has to offer - yes the Tun 1401 Batch 8 is a stunning whisky. This event reminded me there was a Balvenie lurking in the deepest recesses of my bottle empire so here we go.

First as always, the details that matter:

Distillery: The Balvenie
Strength: 40%
Cask: ex-bourbon before finishing in a sherry cask
Edition: Unlimited
Price: varies but circa £30

Colour: butterscotch
Nose: raisins, marzipan, honey, vanilla and those typical sherry notes
Mouth: just lovely, some may view it as inoffensive but I'd rather view it as a classic refined everyday dram. More of those nosing notes coming through on the palate now with some added nuts and dark chocolate.

Along with the bog standard Glenmorangie, this Balvenie DoubleWood is a great place to start your whisky journey and hopefully a voyage of appreciation. It is one that I can rely on and keep coming back to without any concern.