Monday, November 19, 2012

The New Batch: Balvenie Tun 1401 Batch 6


This spring, I was very impressed by the first US release of Balvenie Tun 1401. That Batch (Batch 3) is still on some shelves, but Balvenie has now sent another release to the US: Batch 6, so I thought I'd compare them.

Whereas Batch 3 was composed of a blend of seven bourbon cask aged whiskies and three sherry cask whiskies, Batch 6 is composed of seven bourbon cask and two sherry cask whiskies.


Balvenie Tun 1401 Batch 6, 49.8% abv ($250)

The nose has those really nice sherry notes with mixed berries. The palate is a drier sherry that trails off with some baking spices, including cloves and allspice. Then there is just a wee bit of iodine and some medicinal notes more reminiscent of a coastal malt.

This is quite different from the first US release, Batch 3, which was fruitier. It's still a great whiskey though perhaps not as transcendent as Batch 3 was.

See the LA Whiskey Society Review of Balvenie Tun 1401 Batch 6.

1 comment:

David D said...

I finally got to taste this last week. I never had a chance to sample Batch 3, but maybe that's a good thing because I really liked Batch 6. I sold a ton of it in the store yesterday. Our RWC staff also thought it was quite delicious, so much so that our resident cheap skate poured himself a big glass and took it back to his desk.