My Top 10 - THE BALVENIE DOUBLEWOOD 12 YEARS OLD

By FoxNews
The Balvenie is one of the great distilleries of Speyside, Scotland. Founded in 1892, it is one of the pioneers of introducing various wood finishes to its malts. Their aptly named DoubleWood is a twelve-year-old Single Malt that spends most of its life in second-fill Bourbon casks prior to being transferred to first-fill Oloroso Sherry casks. There are three levels of flavor in this Single Malt. The original Balvenie imparts heather, honey and clean barley flavors. The Bourbon barrel adds vanilla, a sort of cookie-like taste, as well as marshmallow, caramel and toast. The Oloroso Sherry barrel’s influence is expressed via peach, marzipan, clover, a bit of honey and prunes. Complex and approachable, this Single Malt has a younger brother that's actually older The Balvenie 17 Year Old DoubleWood was first released in September of 2012.

By The Balvenie
The Balvenie DoubleWood is a 12 year old single malt which gains its distinctive character from being matured in two wood types. Over the period of maturation it is transferred from a traditional oak whisky cask to a first fill European oak sherry cask. Each stage lends different qualities to the resulting single malt ~ the traditional casks soften and add character, whilst the sherry wood brings depth and fullness of flavour.
TASTING NOTES:
NOSE
Sweet fruit and Oloroso sherry notes, layered with honey and vanilla.
TASTE
Smooth and mellow with beautifully combined flavours ~ nutty sweetness, cinnamon spiciness and a delicately proportioned layer of sherry.
FINISH
Long and Warming

By Steve H. (Seattle, WA, USA)
Balvenie is an old distillery that still does everything the only fashioned way. Their copper stills are shaped differently than other distilleries and they turn all of their malt by hand (a rarity). The Doublewood is made the traditional way of being aged in bourbon casks. They age for 12 years and then they move them into casks that were used for sherry. They age them there to the taste of the master distiller (averaging about 9 months), then bottle this nectar up. This is the same method as Glenmorangie Lasanta, but with less smoke and peat and sweeter.
Doublewood is a fruitier, lighter scotch with very little smoke in the flavor. There is a strong hint of honey, followed by some caramel and spices (like cinnamon). The best way to describe this to my friends, and they all agree, is that it tastes like Macallan 12, but with cinnamon added. I love Macallan, but I love this more! I also love that it comes in a slightly shorter bottle so it stores a little easier than the wine-size of Macallan.