Balmenach 9 yo Oloroso Cask – Darkness!

Volume: 0.5 litres | Alcohol content: 56.6% | Chill filtration: No | Colouring: No

Special Features:

A finish in small Oloroso sherry Octaves defines this nine-year-old Balmenach from the Darkness range. This additional maturation brings dark fruit, nutty notes and sweet spice to the Speyside Single Malt. Floral accents complement this robust, non-smoky whisky.

For its finishing process, Darkness uses sherry casks specially reduced in size to 50 litres. Relative to the volume of liquid, these small casks provide more internal wood surface area than a large sherry Butt. This intensifies the interaction between whisky and cask. The nine years refer to this bottling's total maturation time, including the Oloroso finish.

The whisky is bottled at 56.6%, without chill filtration or added colouring. Its colour comes from cask maturation. The bottle contains 0.5 litres and comes with gift packaging.

Tasting Notes:

• Nose: The aroma recalls freshly baked nut cake with a generous chocolate glaze. Lilac, lavender and fruity notes appear alongside cinnamon and oak.
• Palate: The whisky is full-bodied on the palate. Toast with peanut butter and jam meets chocolate-coated nuts, cherries and plenty of dried fruit. Fig syrup and heather honey add to its sweet side, while oak spice and cloves provide spicy accents.
• Finish: Sherry flavours and nutty notes linger in the long finish.

Distillery/Bottler:

Balmenach lies near Cromdale in Speyside. The distillery developed from a farm whose previously illicit whisky production was licensed to James MacGregor in 1824. After its closure in 1993, Inver House acquired the distillery in 1997; production resumed the following year.

Long fermentation times, relatively small stills run at a brisk pace and traditional worm-tub condensers are part of Balmenach's production methods. Alcohol vapour condenses in these water-cooled coils. This approach contributes to the rich, savoury character of the spirit, which is valued for blends and also lends itself well to maturation in former sherry casks.

Darkness is the independent bottler of this release. The range uses additional maturation in small, specially rebuilt sherry casks to bring the cask influence to the fore. Balmenach supplies the Single Malt, while Darkness handles the selection and bottling of this release.

Facts: