Balblair Vintage Bottlings

[Ganga]

Last night I had the opportunity to try the Balblair Vintage 1991 and 1997. I did enjoy them. Here is what I was able to write down in the dark.

1991
N: malty, nougat, dry spices, light fruits, cocoa
P: Grainy, straw, apples, oranges
F: moderate, grainy sweetness

1997
N: Light cinnamon, lots of malt
P: spicey/fiery, malty, light citrus-lemon
F: short, spicey

Good whiskies and if you like the lighter side of malt whiskies, these may be right for you.

[dramtastic]

A distillery I could become a big fan of if I had access to a larger range of there product.

[Ganga]

I do have some further thoughts for everyone: chocolate, water, ice.

Chocolate: the 1997 really did work well with dark chocolate. Contrast of the bitter and sweet was quite pleasant. However, the 1991 became rather grainy and strawy; lost it's complexity as the fruits were swallowed by the chocolate.

Water: a few drops really didn't open up a better bouquet. However, it became a little more approachable, especially on the 1991 as it cut down the fieriness. A fair bit of water added just served to mute everything down.

Ice: well, I found all the oak and harsh grains you could want. It also began to taste a little alcoholic. Ice just doesn't work for me I guess.

[Maccy]

I have the 85 which seems to get very mixed reviews.

Personally, from memory, I thought that it was very good but will need to try again

The 75 always gets rave reviews. I wonder how much better / different it is.

Are they all so different?

[Drammed]

I picked up a bottle of the 1997 on the weekend and I am really looking forward to opening it this summer as by the notes it is a hot weather scotch.

cheers

[Willie JJ]

I was given an excellent tour of Balblair a couple of weeks ago by assistant manager Graham Bowie. Its a really nice little distillery that I have long thought made a fine malt (Who can forget the old 38yo). I was annoyed by the approach taken by the marketers in 2007 when they repackaged the range and doubled the price, but it seems that the prices of other malts have just about caught up now and the Balblairs look reasonably priced again. I been drinking the 1997 and 1989 again recently and tasted them both alongside the 1975 at the distillery and thought they were all worthy of more attention. One thing that was pointed out to me was that they are still bottling these vintages (for the moment) so the 1997 that used to be a 10yo is now a 13yo and the 1989 is now 20/21yo. Check your bottles for details.

[Ganga]

Sounds like the ANB.

[Willie JJ]

Yeah now I want to chase down the different batches to look for variation

[MacDeffe]

Maybe you got a webpage next year named

http://www.balblairproject.com ?

/Macdeffe

[Willie JJ]

You actually had me clicking the link to see if it was real

[Ganga]

Maybe you got a webpage next year named

http://www.balblairproject.com ?

/Macdeffe

Shouldn't that be the http://www.balblairwitchproject.com ?

[Denny Kopp]

I had a buddy that went off to vacation in the land'o'malts.
I sent him off with a US Franklin and instructions to bring us back a bottle or two of something "cool" that an average Joe could lay hands on.
He brought back two Balblair releases.
1997 and 1989.
We went through the 97 pretty quick and it was GREAT!
(i would agree it to be a "summer" dram)
The 89 is still un-opened!
What I would like to know...if possible....
The Balblair distillery runs year round but only bottles/barrels up occasionally, right?
If that is correct...what do they do with the rest?
Is there a blend that I should be looking for?
I am really curious about this distillery and from my side of the pond, I would like some help learning more.
Thanks in advance.