Scotch Review #71: Balblair 2003

Distillery: Balblair

Region: Highland

ABV: 46%

Age: NAS, bottled in 2015

Price: Don’t remember, I think it was $12 for a pour at the bar.

Color: 0.1, White Wine. Natural Color and non-Chill Filtered

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Nose (according to the wife): Very sweet, smells of moscato grapes and Korean grape candies.

Palate: Moscato grapes and Korean grape candies with a bit of malt. No surprises here.

Finish: Extremely short, basically doesn’t exist.

Conclusion: If you watered this down a tad and served it to me in a wine glass, I wouldn’t have even noticed. The color is the lightest I’ve seen in a whiskey and if it weren’t for the malt in the palate reminding me that it was, I wouldn’t have thought it was one. Still, it’s not bad. The grape notes are really refreshing and great for a hot day. I grabbed this when we swung by the bar to celebrate our anniversary and I would recommend you choose something else for such an occasion. Would I buy a bottle? No.

Final Score: 75.

Scotch whisky review #71, Highland review #17, Whisky Network Review #94

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Scoring Legend:

• 96-100: The perfect dram, nectar of the gods.
• 90-95: Near perfect, there is something truly special about this whisky.
• 85-89: Amazing, will always try to keep a bottle of this in my collection (if feasible).
• 80-84: Very Good, maybe only one minor nitpick about the whisky keeping it here.
• 75-79: Good, quite enjoyable to drink.
• 70-74: Solid, wouldn’t go out of my way to get it.
• 60-69: Meh, still drinkable.
• Below 59: If you have a bottle of this, start cooking with it instead.