Balblair 1979 Gordon Macphail

Balblair 1975

Balblair recently changed from Vintages back to malts with age statements. Today, I will try an older release, from 2007, with a Balblair distilled in 1975, making it a 31 or 32 years old. That explains the price tag of around 450 EUR, but you’ll be hard pressed to still find a bottle. Bittersweet nose with lots of herbal touches. Like I’m in an...

Score 84/100

Balblair 12 Year Old 2006 Hand Bottling

It’s hard to resist the exclusive distillery bottlings where you are actually visiting the distillery. Trust me, been there more than my wallet cares to remember. But this one was filled by my Dutch buddy Marcel and he was so gracious as to send me a sample. This Balblair matured for 12 years. It’s a single cask at cask strength, something you do...

Score 83/100

Balblair 1990 2nd Release

Different sources state that there has been a release of Balblair 1990 in 1998, 2008, 2009, 2011, 2013, 2014 and 2015. The last three were all called ‘Second Release’. How can this be? While somebody writes down the explanation, I will try the bottling from 2014. The sherry has clearly put its stamp on this nose. Wonderfully sweet notes of...

Score 88/100

Balblair 1997

I've got a couple of twitter buddies from the Holyland who, knowing that I'm into the sweeter drams, suggested this one to me. They've not steered me wrong yet so I decided to listen to their suggestion and pick up a bottle. This one is not available in the US because it's not a 750ml bottle, rather a 70cl. Why the US will not accept bottles at...

Score 85/100