portwood pleasures

landed in singapore and bought a balvenie double wood. the funny thing about the red dot is that you can buy a litre of hard liquor/spirits together with a litre of wine and another litre of beer as your duty-free entitlement upon arrival.
no questions asked. but you cannot buy anything if you are coming from malaysia.
the reason is clear. thousands cross over by land, sea and air daily between the two countries. imagine the amount of alcohol that could be smuggled and consumed between both neighbours. well, i for one would reach out and polish off a bottle of anything just waiting in line at the singapore immigration checkpoints at the border.
enough said about that. the balvenie double wood is a great single malt. and i am slowly imbibing it just as i did a few weeks ago at no black tie while watching rafique rashid perform songs old and new.
but even better than the double wood is the balvenie portwood 21 years old which i had the pleasure of at least a couple of wee drams at a friend's house.
the 40 percent alcohol by volume smooth single malt is creamy with a sweet bouquet of honey and nuts, showing off the maturity that only 21 year olds can have.
the colour of honey, the single malt is matured in oak casks before it spends time in port casks that have held port wines previously, hence the inherent sweetness.
by the way, the balvenie portwood 21 year old was awarded a prestigious gold medal at the 2005 international spirits challenge which pretty much reflects it pedigree as a great malt.
the palate is soft and sweet like cream with a bit of oakiness that quickly dissolves into a soft sweet finish.
if you like port, you'll love the portwood.

single barrel malt

the doublewood 12 year old is just one of the many single malts from the balvenie as the speyside distiller is one of the few able to coax the malt to bring out a plethora of pleasures and passion for the single malt connoisseur.
and thus just weeks ago, the few of us came across an excellent bottle of the single barrel 15 year old in a kuala lumpur pub. it was also one of many occasions for us to drink the night away in great company days after the malaysian general elections.
the single barrel single malt is drawn from a single cask of a single distillation which produces a maximum of 350 bottles. this basically means that each bottle is quite unique and unrepeatable, and comes with its own hand-numbered labels to denote its singularity and rarity.
so with great pleasure we opened the 47.8 percent alcohol by volume 70cl bottle. the yellow gold liquid swirled and a fragrant vanilla with hints of honey aroma filled the smoky and sweaty pub. nice, said one. great, said another.
the honey continued in a sip of the wee dram with spicy notes and a robust oakiness permeating in the smooth single malt. there was sweetness comparable to the sweet spot of a golf or a tennis ball that would suggest a great day.
the finish was smoky with a great peatiness that immediately demanded a refill and before long, the bottle was emptied. we would long for another bottle soon to relive, to a certain extent, the vanilla, honey and oaky notes that underscore this wonderful single malt.

the double wood doctorate do

a good friend received his doctorate over the weekend and decided to throw a party at the finnegans pub in bangsar baru.
a few other friends were also around and dropped in for drinks and we made it a party of sorts which led to me bring the bottle of balvenie double wood 12 year old single malt that had been with me for a while now.
the amber single malt has an elegant bouquet that resonates of fruits, honey and hints of vanilla not quite unlike a good gelato and acquires its distinctiveness from being matured in two woods - from a traditional oak whisky cask to a first fill spanish oak sherry cask.
the result is character from the traditional casks that used to hold bourbon and full flavour and depth from the sherry casks thus leading to a happy commingling of nutty sweetness, spiciness and sherry for a long tingling warming finish.
the 43 percent alcohol by volume speyside whisky is quite simply a great dram especially from a red wine glass.
suffice to say all the friends enjoyed the balvenie and the newly-minted doctorate holder had a great time with his wonderful party.
fantastic whisky, fabulous friends, what more can one ask for?