Balvenie 16 French Oak Scotch Whisky

Join us as four whisky enthusiasts gather to taste and rate the Balvenie 16 French Oak Scotch Whisky. Aged in traditional oak casks and finished in French oak barrels, this 16-year-old single malt offers a complex flavor profile with sweet, spicy notes, a velvety texture, and a balanced finish. Through our sensory journey, we’ll share our candid thoughts and impressions, providing comprehensive insights and individual ratings. Whether you’re seeking your next favorite dram or curious about Balvenie’s craftsmanship, join us for this whisky-tasting adventure. Cheers!

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Can I use your bathroom this is what I do to you this is what I do with every should you add that as what is up folks hey guys it is scotch for dummies for guys on the scotch journey to help you with your next Scotch purchase we are I don’t even

Know what’s going on today to be honest with you it’s crazy maybe I don’t know it’s a crazy there’s conak involved the B 16 French Oak what originally released in roughly 2022 2ish yeah we lose some years with Co and all that crap YP it’s fine it’s

Fine 16 years old it was waiting for us ah so what was it you said it was 16 years 16 years in American Oak and then they take it and they put in these crazy P C Cast so p is a unique line combination so it is French Oak but but

Before the whiskey went in there there was a PE wine that was put in those casks and that is a a really basically a fortified um extra sweet grap juice grape juice so you take unfermented grape juice you add some conac what is it ad so it’s just like the new make conac

To fortify it up to whatever alcohol content you want and then you age it in these freno casks and so these are you would expect this to have like a really sweet French white wine I think it’s a white wine yeah I would think so and and

The Udu is made out of different kinds of fruits it can’t be grapes can’t be grapes so like pears and cherries and apricots and stuff like that depending on what kind of fruit it is and obviously leaves a lot of character of the fruit in that well they specifically

Call it grapefruit so I I’m I’m anxious to see like what this kind of tastes like I we don’t have like fancy wines like that in the United States we drink like Mad Dog 2020 that’s our fortified grape juice right but it’s kind of the same thing you’re putting a distilled

Spirit in grape juice to raise the alcohol content up and you’re you’re not making wine per se right correct but uh but it’s got It’s going to have a lot of the fruit character correct so it’ll be interesting how it imparts that in The Cask it doesn’t say how long they finish

It in those casks it is 47.6 I think is what it’s coming in at it is pretty hefty on the wallet I think it was 17 180 something like that um it C years sure okay I get it but it’s still it’s still expensive yeah I’m not

Defending it I’m just saying it is 16 years old I guess if we’re going to defend the price we’ll say the age and the uniqueness and difference of the finishing TKS right because I mean can’t say we had this I’m going to let the pallet be the judge of that one so real

Quick you picked this up recently it’s it is available that’s what caught my attention I saw on the shelves like what the what and you know I probably paid too much like 180 or something for it I was in a small town in Indiana and I I

Just grabbed it um but it’s out there okay okay well to the nose here and see what’s going on oh hello lover it’s sweet it’s got a real sweet nose but underneath it it’s like that great malt heavy bodied malt character it it just by the nose it seems like the

Grape and the heavy malt character and the sweetness from the bourbon TKS are all marrying together quite Absolut quite nicely it’s almost H in a sense yeah it’s it is it’s a really sweet and that that initial nose when you just like barely waft it you get a little bit

Of sweetness you when you give it a chance to do a nice slow draw on your nose that’s when you get that good Mal character coming through yeah I still get some of that Oak though for sure yeah it it’s got a real nice pleasant

Nose did you say it was 47.6 476 which is a weird ABV I’m wondering if they I mean obviously they did it on purpose they always do it on purpose but it’s not the standard 46 so why I don’t know why go a little biter

Well it has a little hot smell to it but so on the bottle it says hang on does it say is it chill filter so no I I would 16 years of maturation in American oakk brings an abundance of Vanilla Spice and warm honey notes oh thanks for

Enlightening me um finishing in pukas bring energizing grapefruit geranium glazed fruit and ginger sure about Ginger or geranium we’ll see we’ll see okay you guys ready yeah to the palette taste it cheers MH oky at front right away that’s really nice wow that’s very nice did you get the ginger a lot of

Yeah Wow’s aot kind of a roller coaster you’re right um I got the ginger I got honey up front yep and then Ginger just finished off it was like a sweet glazed ginger on the back of some honey yep honey then through the Oak area into the

Ginger yeah did you get apricot this is evolving pretty nice well that was the first sip I you know the second sip is usually even better yes that was a it’s a very approachable glass I don’t I don’t really notice it being super hot either you know you’re close a note of

Spiciness but I think it’s the ginger yeah I I don’t think it’s the alcohol I don’t either Ginger is very nice I don’t know what geranium smells like but I may be getting that too a [ __ ] I’m just saying oh come on you know you sniff it every

Day this is a meat and potatoes kind of whiskey I don’t know where I don’t know the the it is heavy it’s thick it’s Rich so why would those real fruity light pinoc cats what have those done to this whiskey to me it added a layer of of

Fuess I think that because I do get fruit like what what part of the pallet it’s like mid High pallet um but I I get a lot of Oak there’s a really nice base of Oak and and there’s I get some white pepper now on the second sip like really

Light it’s not like super crazy that I associate with Frank choke and there’s a honey that runs all the way through the middle pallet and above that is some fruit nodes some like apricot and grape and then it’s got vanillas on the top side like it’s a really nice layered

Complex Whiskey Jam and stuff J actually got some juicy fruit in there yeah did I really did I can totally see that this has a lot of a lot going on what do you think about water on this I think this is going to handle water that’s my guess

Is when you add the water that’s when you’re going to get that French fruit fresh gra fruit juice to me it’s there now though I mean see I’m not getting any I’m getting a rich meaty like uh classic Scotch coming through there and the I’m not getting a lot of you know

Berry really grape juice sweetness I’m getting like I didn’t even want to say it yet but I’m getting like grape oatmeal and spices like it’s just with a hint of you know wol Oak and just all kinds of stuff going on yeah this is it’s a fun glass man now see I

Am getting some like white wine notes on the nose yeah did you put water on it yeah it did thin it out um initially we’ll see I’m I’m anxious to try it with water I think that it’s going to bring some some different notes to the four um

It it’s interesting I mean it’s it’s a meat and potato Scotch it’s bigger than I would normally think of when I think bvin well and I would not have expected if they’re putting in a in a sweet uh wine cask this is not what I would have

Expected no I think need it did come out swinging what do you think about the finish I mean it’s it’s still going for me it it’s still there and it’s a big Rich it’s not super viscous but it’s it’s definitely there lasting it but it

It to me neat it was still a mouthful of a dram right not viscous not oily not coating if you will but it was still heavy it was it was like I’m here there was a lot to it there was me it’s nice on the nose with the

Water oh wow now I’m getting some of that young grape coming through the early mid pallet with the water on it more Oak coming out too and we are we’re like opposite cuz I was getting the the rich heavy yeah the water I think mine needs

To sit for a little bit it’s still it’s still kind of tight jostled um no it’s good it’s good milk nice it’s nice oh yeah yep well that really just just a loft this a little bit yep oh my gosh that’s really good yeah the pieces fit together a little smoother I’m not

Sure that I like it better with the water it was nice neat it was I enjoyed NE a lot right now with water I’m I’m thoroughly enjoying it I think it’s I think it’s more approachable drinkable with water however neat I feel like it has a little bit more abundance of a

Jolly like a a Gob stopper has a little bit more Evolution going on now it’s kind of like it’s all those are more rounded not as edgy yep there’s a Savory note in there it does take a minute to to come back much better the water it does so we’re all

Going to give this good scores I can tell you right now based on what we’re we’re talking about I mean price though 180 little high but 16 years so this is a specialty bottle when you get above a 100 bucks it kind of becomes a specialty bottle yeah I’m I’m kind of thinking

That this isn’t something you buy for your everyday bar anyway um so this is like a gift bottle or something that you’re you’re gifting to yourself um it’s it’s a nice dram though yeah I mean I’m not going to lie that that price is

A little high it is it is 16 years I get it I think I’m going to give them a little bit of a a leeway pass on the finishing casks y because they are unique and they’re not they’re they’re not readily out there you don’t see a

Lot of them so I get that they probably had to pay for those casks and and um doesn’t say how long they finished them in you know it could have been two weeks I don’t know but however long they did it did make a difference I think it’s

Really well put together I just I love the fact that it marries together I the nose was wonderful the palet was interesting and it came at me right off the bat with that nice neat honey note and then it just followed into a Ginger

Spice and I was like [ __ ] and then I put water on it and it just put it together a little bit better and I was like damn so I I mean honestly I I know the price point is it’s going to make this tough I I want to give it a three

The price point just makes it man it’s a lot of money for a 16year old it really is and maybe maybe I’m I’m stuck you know in seven years ago but um I’m going to give it a three because of the price it is a unique bottle it’s delicious and

You’re right it’s probably something that you don’t open and drink every day anyway correct so I would agree this is a a great whiskey and I think I figured out the richness I’m getting the part I like about this is the fren Oak not the

Wine that was in the French Oak so that French Oak spiciness and body and all that greatness comes through in that French Oak um great job with it I’m amazed that you can finish in French Oak and pull that out so maybe I’m reading something into that but it’s a really

Tasty whiskey I don’t get the I don’t know the advantage of the of the wine they put in there I’m not getting any of that in there um I think a three is probably appropriate but I may go a two5 because it is expensive it’s it’s quite

Good I I enjoy this whiskey I would never turn it down I would drink it all day long but I can’t afford to drink it all day long and and at that price point there’s other more unique you know celebration whiskies out there and this

Is this is more of a meat and potatoes kind of whiskey to me then it’s a great meat and potatoes whiskey but it’s it’s not I’m going to give it a two5 it’s just I think it’s overpriced yes and yes uh first of all I

Am a huge B fan I love them I really I’ve always appreciated what they’ve done their staple ever since the beginning the 14 rum cast was one of my favorites right and then toasted wood how many times would we recommended the 12 yeah it’s amazing well the thing is

The balvini 14 Caribbean Cask is going for $85 now oh yeah no absolutely for two more years bin itself all prices gone up okay first of all hold on this is exceptional it’s perfect for me right now I’m really really enjoying this for my palette it’s expensive yes but you’re

Getting 16 years so yeah it may be expensive for that depending on your palette but everything you guys have said so far man I’ll tell you from the first sip until right now it’s gotten better every single time for me like I just had a sip a minute ago I’m like wow

It’s gotten better so much complexity to it the evolution of if you want it neat you want a more Edge you want a little B more flavor potency sure you want put some water on it Edge it out a little smoother so it Blends better sure it’s

Great you can play with it um to me it’s hitting it’s hitting all the bells and whistles right now I I want to give it a four but it’s just top of the edge price for me so I’m gon to give it a 35 wow I

Got to go back and give it a three because I think you know what we’ve done in previous reviews is because this is a specialty bottle this is not your everyday bottle but it’s so good that it deserves at least the three based on

That so I’m going to go back up to a three so what did you give it I it a three three okay Sean what you got man I am intrigued by this bottle um because I agree with Andrew it’s kind of a meat and potatoes whiskey it feels like this

Big bold whiskey and they they put it in these other casks and it kind of to add like a a layer of sweetness it’s not overly complex because of that I don’t I don’t think that it added like a layer of depth and like a bunch of interesting

Flavors but the ones that they did add added interesting flavors that built on top of what was already there so I I think that it’s a very interesting whiskey in that regard um and I like the French Oak like I liked the spice and it was fun there were parts that were like

Gingery um and had that like Ginger Spice but then there were parts that were white pepper and they they melded very well um the fruit flavors were there but they weren’t over the top fruit flavors and it was all on this backbone of this like deep rich whiskey

That had you know real good depth like it’s what a Scotch should be right and it had a nice long flavor um and the Finish was good so I added water to it twice it held water both times it was it was fun to drink um I want to pour

Another glass right away so that’s always a good sign yeah it the the price point does suck just because it is a lot of money like you’re not going to buy this for an everyday drink or most most people won’t um but I think that if you’re buying it as a

Specialty bottle and you’re going in with that kind of mindset that it’s probably worth it so I’ll discount the price just a little bit um I I was kind of I was with Andrew I was like is it is it a it is a three do you discount it a

Little bit because of the price I’m not going to I’m just going to give it a solid three and just leave it at that um I think it’s a really good whiskey and and you should try it if you can I honestly think it it stands on itself by

Being a specialty model I I mean if you had this on your bar you’re going to pour it for the special guests the special friends the special occasions and it it will not let down it won’t dis absolutely go% so 33353 33 353 352 3.125 no you didn’t

Cheers on that not Che Cheers Cheers guys great here we go a