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SMWS 48.171: Balmenach

“Berrylicious” · Past release, no longer on sale
Berrylicious - SMWS 48.171Sold outAug 2024
48.171

Berrylicious

SMWS regionSpeyside
Age15 years
ABV52.7%
Cask2nd fill American oak toasted barrique
SpiritMalt Whisky
Distillery from SMWS code 48
DistilleryBalmenach
RegionSpeyside

In short · Balmenach (Speyside), 15 years.

“We cracked the hard caramel top of a mixed berry crème brûlée and had a bite of a coconut, almond and raspberry traybake.…”Extract · full tasting notes at SMWS

SMWS 48.171 is a single cask of Balmenach, in the Speyside region, 15 years old, bottled at 52.7%, released in the Aug 2024 Outturn. Every Society bottle numbered 48.x is from Balmenach.

How the price compares
At £83, this 15-year-old cost more than 3 of the 6 Balmenach bottlings aged 14–17 released 2022–2024 that we hold. They ranged from £75 to £97, with a median of £84.
Shaded: their range · line: this bottleRelease prices, not adjusted for inflation

Specs, price and tasting-note extract from the SMWS. Full notes on smws.com.

About Balmenach

Above the village of Cromdale, where the Spey runs cold and the Jacobites met defeat in 1690, Balmenach has quietly made whisky since 1824, one of the oldest distilleries in all of Speyside. It keeps to the old ways and the old character, a robust, weighty, faintly meaty make that blenders have long prized and that rewards the patient. These days the same site also turns out Caorunn gin, but the single malt remains a throwback, a big-boned Speysider with none of the modern polish. Under Inver House it works far from the tourist trail, which suits a distillery that has always let the spirit speak for itself.

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Everything in the Aug 2024 Outturn →