Scotch Whisky Review #419: Blackadder The Legendary “Burnside” (Balvenie) 20 Year
Distillery: Balvenie.
Bottler: Blackadder.
Region: Speyside.
Age: 20 Year.
ABV: 46.0%.
Price: Enjoyed at Proof 192 in Omaha, NE. Price unknown.
Color: 0.5, Old Gold. Natural Color and Non-Chill Filtered.
Nose: It has a very heavy, almost gassy feel on the nose. It’s very much in line with what you can get sometimes from wormtub using distilleries. There’s a bit of vanilla extract up front followed by some lemon and some grassy notes. That last bit here is a funky, earthy mushroom-y scent.
Palate: Beeswax is the first note out the gates. It is very quickly overtaken by those funky, earthy, mushroom-y notes. There’s an almost industrial character to this, somewhat reminiscent of some of Loch Lomond’s products. A bit of lemon zest and a hint of fresh mint wrap things up.
Finish: Medium in length. The funky earthiness with mushroom water returns again along with a splash of mineral water.
Conclusion: /u/unbreakablesausage and I had been reminiscing about Blackadder (the show, highly recommended if you haven’t seen it) on Friday morning so when I saw this bottle on the bar wall, I had to go for a pour of it. It is a very strange one, starting right from the fact that it is a single malt “Burnside” given that that designation usually refers to Balvenie teaspooned with Glenfiddich. If /u/federalagents hadn’t dug up the binny’s listing that showed it was from the distillery formerly known as Burnside, I might have assumed it was some very off character Craigellachie thanks to the heft on the nose. The flavor profile reminds me most of Glenmorangie Allta with all of those mushroom-y notes, though this is significantly funkier. Not bad by any means and an interesting one to drink, but I certainly would not be looking for much more.
Final Score: 74.
Note: I’ve made some changes to the scoring legend, the descriptions have been updated slightly to match my actual scoring a little better.
Scotch Whisky Review #419, Speyside Review #155, Whisky Network Review #573
Scoring Legend:
- 96-100: The perfect dram, nectar of the gods.
- 90-95: Near perfect, there is something truly special about this whisky and I will always try to keep a bottle of this in my collection if feasible.
- 85-89: Very good to amazing, almost the complete product and I’m likely wanting a bottle or two.
- 80-84: Quite good, pleasant overall though there is usually a few things that could be improved still.
- 75-79: Good, enjoyable to drink but ultimately flawed.
- 70-74: Alright, solid and 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.
Scotch & Sheen 
