The Balvenie 15 Year Old Madeira Cask

Floral, Nutty, Hay Like
2023-01-22

The Balvenie 15 Years Madeira Cask is a Travel Exclusive bottling from the distillery located in Speyside, Scotland. Not much is really known about the bottling - there was no press release or anything like that. The bottles just turned up. Most of the time, the single malt was matured in ex-bourbon casks before it was decanted into Madeira casks from the Portuguese sunny island of the same name for the finish.

The Balvenie 15 Year Old Madeira Cask (@whiskyedition)

Smell

We immediately smell a wild mix of nuts. Sweetish and with a slight gummy bear aroma, a combination of various berries follows, like those found in the frozen berry mix, i.e. cherries, currants, raspberries. A gentle vanilla-cinnamon-floral-honey jumble lies over everything. Very very pleasant.

Taste

The Speysider single malt opens just as nutty as the nose. More nuts follow with malty intense oak spice, a little bitter orange marmalade paired with ginger and a pinch of pepper. Later, a fruitiness of stone fruit comes through - we're thinking flat peaches - which integrates beautifully with yet more oak and cinnamon. All in all, a good sweet and sour combination.

Finish

The finish of the scotch is medium long, slightly spicy, slightly dusty and of course nutty.

Thoughts

A classic Balvenie with a lot more nuttiness and a bit of berries and fruit. Solid and good to drink - even if it doesn't knock our socks off. The nose clearly wins out over the taste, which is unfortunately held back by too much oak spice. For a travel release, it is one of the better bottlings, especially because of the age statement and not the lowest necessary abv.

Rating: 80/100 - Excellent (Marcel: 80 | Sascha: 80)

Value for Money: 3/5 - Acceptable

Preview Image Source: The Whisky Exchange