After a decades and consumer confusion, Balblair Distillery replaced their entire core range offerings earlier this year. Instead of vintages bottlings, Balblair now offer straightforward age statement whiskies: 12 Year Old, 15 Year Old, 17 Year Old for the Travel Retail market, 18 Year Old and 25 Year Old.

Earlier tonight we had the official #BalblairWhisky Tweet Tasting (over Twitter) where we tasted 4 balblair whiskies from the new range (with link to reviews): 12 Year Old, 15 Year Old, 17 Year Old (Travel Retail) and 18 Year Old.

Let’s start with the entry level offering: Balblair 12 Year Old. It was matured in American Oak casks (A.K.A. a mix of Bourbon casks), bottled at 46% and as usual with Balblair, without added color and without chill filtering.

Balblair 12 Year Old (46%, £43.95)

Nose: Soft, sweet, malty with brioche and buttery croissant, vanilla, pears, apples. Very creamy!, Then a bit of lemon peels marmalade. After a few minutes it’s becoming less creamy and rounded and gains some sharpness and spiciness with gentle white pepper.

Palate: Green apples!, Lots of apples! Also some reddish hue apples, vanilla, white pepper and oak spice, malt, subtle bitter almonds, drier.

Finish: Medium length, lingering green apples peels, vanilla and stronger and lingering oak spice with peppery edge.

Thoughts: An easy going dram. Summer day whisky with freshness and creaminess to hug your tongue. Very solid and definitely in line with their previous 03 and 05 vintages.