A 21year old, Christmas Cake & a Toast!

Welcome to all Members old and new, to Decembers wintery Dram blog. We have got a great line up (as always) for you this month leading up to Christmas. Also if you don’t already follow me @MrDramMan across all socials and keep an eye out for some of our DRAMCEMBER winter offers – open to all members current and new. New offers will be coming out daily for you to take advantage off and will be available all the way up to 21st which will be last dispatch day.

Lets get started…

Benromach 21

Straight in with the 21 year old Benromach, and instantly on the nose you can tell its spent time in an Oloroso cask: you get the sweet rich fruit scents from sultanas, dates, figs and candied peel. Perfect for this time of year getting into that Christmassy mood on a cold frosty evening. On the palate there is a very delicate note of marmalade, combined with light honey and a gentle nudge of Ovaltine and black pepper. This weirdly reminds me of a surreal day out in Portugal where I went for a hike, got lost and ended up walking through a private orange orchard where I met an old Portuguese man who spoke no English. After yelling at me in Portuguese and waving me to follow him, he led me to a bench with a stunning view, gave me a glass of spirit and a freshly picked orange and just pointed to me to sit. We sat there for 20 minutes drinking spirit and eating orange. Then his daughter came along and pointed me in the right direction. Some drinks have this nostalgic effect on you and right now as I am writing this, it gave me that nostalgic moment. Years to £ ratio I don’t think you can go wrong with this at all. There aren’t many 21yr old single malts for under £140 that are so consistent with their flavour. If people are interested in a bottle of this for Christmas – get in touch as I may be able to get a cheeky Christmas deal for you. 93/100

Balvenie 12 - The Sweet Toast of American Oak

Moving on to the Balvenie, another cracking wintery dram, perfect for this time of year – there is a trend with these drams if you hadn’t noticed. This Balvenie story comes from taking Kentucky Virgin Oak Barrells, over 3500 miles to the Speyside distillery of Balvenie where they send them to their cooperage to receive a hefty toasting – “The only wood burned on the fire is white oak. An intoxicating nutty and marzipany smell of all the vanillins within the American Oak, like freshly baked bread.” This oozes dark treacle and fudge notes on the nose with allspice and vanilla – sweet, warming and dark in colour. Those flavours continue into the mouth, with a nutty, praline and vanilla package sweetening the mouth, and although it says it in the name, the toasted and honeyed oak really comes through. This gives you a warm and morish feeling in your mouth, sticky, desserty and delicious. This is a great price too at a lower £50 a bottle in most places. Again contact me and I may be able to get a discount. 87/100

Seaweed& Aeons& Christmas Cake& Cinnamon

Finally, our 3rd seasonal dram: it literally has Christmas cake written on the bottle. I always enjoy what this brand does and in this expression they have done a 50/50 blend of Islay malts and Speyside – bringing together the peated salt air flavour of Islay with the sweet, smooth and fruity flavours from Speyside. On the nose you get the instant hit of gentle peat and cold sea air, you get a slight hint of sweetness through but for me this was more like grilled pineapple with cinnamon rather than the dried fruits of a Christmas cake I was expecting. The taste is a good balance of medicinal peat combined with sweet dried fruits (apricots, raisins & with brown sugar) bringing that slight Christmas cake feel to it. I was hoping for more of that coming through with this. A very pleasant drink and easy winter evening drinker – I wouldn’t say it’s the best they have done. The finish is short but I would expect that with a blend – I would imagine the liquids in here are fairly young. 74/100

Thank You to Everyone and I wish you all a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year! Looking forward to more exciting Drams in 2024!