First Impressions
Balvenie 17 Rum Cask — another David Stewart MBE creation finishing seventeen-year-old Speyside in Jamaican rum casks. The rum adds tropical sweetness and spice to the classic Balvenie honey-vanilla character.
Tasting
The nose is rum poundcake with wax and almond. On the palate at 43%, golden sugar syrup with liquorice and tropical fruit. The finish is mild but long with anise turning minty.
The Verdict
Balvenie 17 Rum Cask earns an 8 — rum cask finishing at its most sophisticated. At £599, collector's pricing for a bottle that may be increasingly hard to find.
