#1 Balvenie Peated Cask 17 Yr vs. #2 Port Charlotte 2007 CC:01

My wife bought me a bottle of my #1 favorite all time whisky this past summer for my birthday - the #1 Balvenie 17 YO Peated Cask.  This is absolutely the most delicious whisky I've ever had.  Upfront on both the nose and taste is a complex sweetness with vanilla, brown sugar, and stone fruits followed up with baking spices and citrus.  These finish quickly and I'm left with nutty notes.  Balvenie created the peated cask by aging a peated malt which imparts some peatiness into a barrel.  Once the peated malt is matured, they reuse the barrels by adding this whisky for a while and it takes on some of the peated notes.  But the level of peat is so low that maybe the word "hint" should be used instead of "note".  When I look for it I can find it, but I don't know if I'd pull it out on a blind tasting.  This is dangerously drinkable!   

But, then I tried the Balvenie next to my #2 all time favorite whisky, the Port Charlotte 2007 CC:01.  And the CC:01 won hands down.  All the flavors listed above are easy to pull out in the Balvenie, but overall the whisky is best described as a soft, smooth whisky.  The CC:01 has two main components - stone fruits and peat - and they are bold and assertive.  And the whisky is still smooth for 60% ABV.  This time around I was in the mood for bold so the CC:01 gets the win over the Balvenie.  But, maybe next time I'll be in a more subdued mood and I'll prefer the Balvenie.  Stay tuned... (I can't wait)!

I'm going to go buy another bottle of Filibuster Dual Cask Rye while it lasts, especially at these prices.  Honey and pepper burst out of this whisky after adding a little water.  That's it.  That's my review.  I won't say it is complex, but it is highly drinkable.  This flavor burst is the reason I'm enjoying it more than the more complex Jim Beam Black.  

Jim Beam Black is growing on me and I can see why it was rated the best bourbon of the year last year.  (See my post on Awarding the Awards.)  There just isn't anything negative on the nose, palate, or afterwards making it a very solid bourbon.  That said... I'd like it more if it was a tad little less sweet, or had more pepper or some other flavor to add some complexity, and I'd like more if it had a thicker mouthfeel.  But those are all just the icing on the cake and it is a solid cake.

Following closely behind Jim Beam Black is Evan Williams Vintage Single Barrel.  Compared to the Beam, EWVSB is coming across very nutty and a little woody.  Hard to find anything wrong here but the sweetness and spicy notes of the Beam is doing it for me compared to the nuttiness of the EWVSB.  I wish I had a little Bernheim left to compare it to.

This time, the earthy, rubbery, and oaky Reservoir Hunter and Scott 18 YO Bourbon didn't do it for me this time.  I do like the mature oak and the earthiness (maybe a bit of tobacco) but I could do without the rubberiness this time.  Yes, I realize that may sound odd, but I like Laphroaig so you shouldn't be that surprised that sometimes I find a rubber note attractive.

A friend bought me the Taconic Dutchess Private Reserve about six months ago and I had honestly completely forgotten how it tastes.  The nose was a typical bourbon nose with a little caramel and pepper - that's was fine.  The taste had less sweetness and was a little hot - that was fine.  But there was an odd sour note on the finish, not quite a lemony citrus, maybe more like a lemony pine sol - and that wasn't fine.  Because of that, it is pulling up the rear in this tasting.

What I didn't mention above, was that I held off opening the Balvenie until I could do it with a particular friend who I haven't seen for a while.  We finally got together and had a great whisky tasting after the kids went to bed.  He bought a bottle of Nikka Coffey Grain for the occasion.  Unfortunately, both of us were underwhelmed with the Nikka.  My thoughts on this whisky are summed up best by borrowing a phrase from Recycled Review #5:  "This is by far one of the best cooking corn mash whiskies I've ever used had".  It was smooth, easy to drink, but basically just a corn whisky.  Some reviewers say it took a while for them to appreciate the complexity and subtle flavors... but for $80 a bottle I don't want to search.

Besides the Nikka and the Balvenie, we also sampled the Filibuster Dual Cask Rye, Evan Williams Single Barrel, Finlaggan, and High West American Prairie.  When I drink with friends, I focus on them rather than spending much time delving into the individual characteristics of each whisky so my reviews are short.  The Balvenie was at the top followed by the Filibuster.  The smooth and peaty Finlaggan was next followed by the EWSB.  The High West American Prairie would have been higher on the list but it had a bit too much of a burn.  And the smooth, sweet, and simple Nikka came in last.

In conclusion, below are the short tables for each of these tastings in order of my preferences above.  Enjoy!

Rank	Whisk(e)y	R-rating	Change		Rank	Whisk(e)y	R-rating	Change
1	Port Charlotte CC:01	100.0	1		3	Balvenie 17 Peated Cask	95.0	-2
3	Balvenie 17 Peated Cask	95.0	-2		39	Filibuster Dual Cask Rye	77.4	-1
39	Filibuster Dual Cask Rye	77.4	-1		122	Finlaggan	56.7	32
209	Jim Beam Black	40.4	30		187	Evan Williams Vintage SB	45.6	1
187	Evan Williams Vintage SB	45.6	1		226	High West American Prairie	35.9	-9
73	Reservoir Hunter & Scott 18 Yr	67.8	-18		251	Nikka Coffey Grain	30.5	NR
210	Taconic Dutchess Private Reserve	40.0	-8