.the balvenie - tun 1401 - batch #5

We bought a bottle of this - blind - when it was just released. We were looking for a gift for a good whisky friend, and the owner of the shop had some specials in the back, he was thinking of saving for a rainy day. Sorry man, your price was too good to be true. Our friend got something else...

50.1% abv, €450, single malt, non-chill filtered, natural colour

Nose: sweet, fruit, berries, apple-sauce, warm cherries, dried fruits, raisins, cranberries, a touch of wood

Palate: sweet, vanilla, honey, spicy, cinnamon, strong, fruit, warm apple sauce, cherries, peach, dried fruits, cranberries

Finish: sweet, vanilla, clover honey, semi-dry, warm, smooth, creamy, a touch of wood, dried fruit, cranberries, long
Mark: ++++/+

Conclusion: I would buy this again for the price we got back then, but am afraid this will be difficult with current pricing. Fantastic stuff, and we are told batch #5 is not even the best of the 9 released batches. I am curious about the first batch of her successor; the larger Tun 1509.

More info: Tun 1401 is a so called Marrying Tun. In the Balvenie and Glenfiddich warehouses, you can find many of these large wooden vessels, where several casks are mixed together for a period of time, before getting sent to the bottling lines. Tun 1401 was found in Warehouse 24 and was a pet-project of Malt Master David Steward, where nine different batches sprouted from.