Old Ballantruan for smokeheads!

Fruits, honey sweetness, floral notes: the taste profile of a classic Speyside whisky is mild and rather sweet. The single malts from the Tomintoul Distillery generally fit this pattern very well. With the Old Ballantruan brand, however, the Scots are leaving the beaten track and producing something rare for the Speyside: heavily smoky whiskies. The bottles and packaging of the peaty exotics do not indicate the distillery (note: Glenlivet does not refer to a distillery here, but is merely a nickname that refers to the location). However, it is an open secret that they are distilled at Tomintoul, whose source happens to be called Ballantraun.

Untypical for their home region, the Old Ballantraun Single Malts are made from heavily peated barley malt with around 55 ppm smoke. Dubbed "The Peated Malt", the bottlings offer a fair price-performance ratio and a variety of flavors for smoke lovers beyond Islay : without maritime influences, but with a wonderful harmony of mild fruit, malt and hearty smoky spice. Not chill-filtered and bottled at 50% ABV, they develop rich aromas. In the case of the Old Ballantruan Smokey Original, these are heather smoke and strong peat, citrus notes and sweet, nutty malt. The 5cl miniature gives connoisseurs a foretaste of the intense dram.