The Balvenie 12 Year Old Single Barrel First Fill is a 2013 addition to The Balvenie’s range, a younger sibling to the 15 year old single cask. These are limited edition bottlings: it’s one of around 300 drawn from a single cask made from American white oak. The sample I purchased comes from the first cask to have hit the British market.
Balvenie 12 yo Single Barrel (47,8%, OB 2013, first fill bourbon barrel #12742)
Nose: fresh, clean, sweet, modern, youngish. Quite cereally, with a big candied sweetness: pear drops and lemon candy. Vanilla. It’s not all sweetness though, as the new-sawn oak and accompanying spices (cinnamon, ginger) are clearly present. A light yeasty note as well.
Mouth: on the light side, with similar flavours. Lots of malty notes, a little honey, some coconut. Baked apple and cinnamon sugar. Fades on gentle citrus zest and oak.
Finish: a bit short. Citrusy and cereally. Ever more spicy notes as well.
The Balvenie has always had high standards, so it comes as no surprise this is a well-produced, smooth dram, but a slightly boring one as well. What would have been a nice profile for a standard 12 year-old, is just not enough to be bottled as a single cask. I can only assume it was deliberately kept simple and aimed at ‘single cask beginners’, hence hollowing out the single cask concept a little. Around € 50.
Score: 82/100