By
George Brozowski
Wassup
with these Scottish folk? They must be getting awful
darned bored sitting around up there on their windswept islands
drinking their Scotches, getting a decent buzz going and then
looking for something to do! So what do they decide to do?
Why they remove the traditional age statements from their
whiskies just to fool with our brains, confuse us and make
us admit we didn't pay much attention in grade school when
it came to learning our math tables much less that pesky algebra
thing.
Seriously!
The last scotch I tried had absolutely no age statement at
all forcing me to do research to figure out how old it was.
And now, along comes Balblair and they only have a cryptic
2002 on their bottle. However, much to their credit, they
do go on to explain that the contents was distilled in 2002
and bottled in 2012, thus forcing me to do the math and come
up with 10 years old, even though it's currently 2014. I believe
that difference is explainable through a combination of Euclidian
geometry, abstract algebra, quadratic formulas and polynomials,
if you get my drift. In reference to those 2 years, let me
make a very incendiary statement; whiskey does not age once
bottled.
Most
of you should agree with me, but I'll bet there's a few who
will disagree, so bring it on. (By the by, wine does indeed
continue to age once bottled but it has more to do with its
chemical makeup and alcohol content rather than anything else.)
Obviously, the good folks up at Balblair
have had a great deal of time to sit around and think as their
distillery was founded by John Ross in 1790 with the current
buildings having been built in 1893. Their whiskey is aged
in former bourbon casks and non chill filtered. Let's get
to it. The color is a very pale transparent golden that is
lighter than ginger ale and looks very inviting. The nose
is as delicate as the color with traces of green apples, a
hint of vanilla, a touch of lemon zest and the slightest nuance
of smoke and barley, peat, and bourbon. The palate is light
yet tangy with the fruit forward green apple and lemon followed
by light peaty smoke and that trace of bourbon. The finish
is short and smoky sweet and very smooth. This is a scotch
that hides its 10 years of aging behind delicate, crisp flavors
that do not overwhelm and yet layers that with the underpinnings
of smokey peat and bourbon that compliment rather than cover
the fruit. This is a very nice, light and crisp scotch.
You
can find this Balblair 2002 for around $61.60
per 750ml bottle at 46% ABV or 92 proof right now. Buy it
NOW because it's not going to get any older but you will!
For
more Rants & Raves click
here.
www.balblair.com