Old Ballantruan The Peated Malt
There is no distillery called Old Ballantruan. Just as there are no Longrow or Hazelburn distilleries, which we can easily find as single malt whiskies. Both are produced by Springbank – a wonderful distillery from Campbeltown. We have the same situation here. Old Ballantruan is a heavily peated whisky, produced by a distillery, which is rather known for its delicate, unpeated sweet-fruity-wine’y style, typical for the Scotland’s region called Speyside.
Old Ballantruan The Peated Malt
Single Malt Scotch Whisky
Ballantruan Spring is the name of the water source near the distillery
Region: Speyside
NAS
50% ABV
Heavily peated, approx. 30 PPM
Un-chill filtered
Color: amber -1, natural, without artificial coloring
Tasting notes
Nose: at the beginning, the alcoholic intensity disturbs a bit. Immediately the peat-smoke is present, followed by some citric notes, cola, vanilla, tonic, caramel, musk 20/25
Palate: ginger, cocoa, toffee, smoke, wood. Strong, intense, tasty. The alcohol is better hidden than at the scent. 22/25
Finish: semi-dry wine, tonic, anise, cloves, caramel, citrus 21/25
Balance: a bit too alcoholic in the fragrance, but the taste and finish are completely different. This is a non-age-stated whisky, so I didn’t expect huge complexity. Yet, a pleasant surprise. I enjoyed it. An additional advantage is the lack of chill-filtration and a decent 50% ABV, which, however, is (maybe apart from the smell) quite well hidden. 20/25
Overall: 83/100
Other reviews:
whiskyfun (2006): 82/100
Murray „Whisky Bible” (2017): 89.5/100
Price: approx. EUR 35
Conclusion
It’s not bad dram… but definitely not a must-have.
Oh, and the distillery’s name is Tomintoul.
More photos here
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