Ballantine's 21 Year Old / 70cl

Product Information

On the nose: An intense hit of sherry-soaked fruitcake immediately transports you to an idealised image of Christmas Day evening. You can almost feel the warm glow of the imagined fire on your cheeks and smell the slight smokiness of burning logs mingling with the creamy vanilla and brandy butter rising out of the glass. Next come the sugary apricots, like the waft of a freshly flipped (apricot) tarte tatin, mixed with figs and wine gums. Then a hint of almonds and more caramel sweetness as everything comes together. I’m briefly overcome by the slight fear that I should’ve saved it for another couple of months, followed by the realisation that it will be hard to find another bottle in the UK for Christmas. Shit. It’s a powerfully complex opening movement and expectations are high. Each and every Member must be of legal drinking age in its country of residence to be allowed to use the Service. If no such law exists in a Member’s country of residence, the Member has to be over 21 years old to use the Service. We have the right to ask you to provide proof of your age and/or to provide further identification to prevent underage usage and/or for any other legal or legitimate purpose. By using the Service, and by creating an account you represent, warrant and confirm that you are of legal age.

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It wasn’t until a recent holiday to Greece that I remembered its existence. For reasons unknown, I had decided to take Foucault’s Pendulum, Umberto Eco’s esoteric classic, as my beach read. It’s a book brimming with cryptic clues, cults, mystical notes and numerology. At one point in the story, during a particularly poignant and confusing passage, a character (Jacopo Belbo) bets the protagonist (Casaubon) a bottle of Ballantine’s twelve that he can’t “deliver the Popelicans” in two weeks. Taste: Big on the caramel and fudge, with whispers of bitter orange peel, milk chocolate and charred oak. Fairly spicy (that’s the European oak talking) with cloves and nutmeg, followed by a pinch of salt. Nonetheless, Sandy Hislop (only the 5th Master Blender in the company’s history) has brought everything together wonderfully well. All aspects working in concert to create a finely balanced and immensely enjoyable blend of which farmer George – and Beethoven – would have been proud. Whiskybase B.V. is the Dutch private limited liability company, having its statutory seat in Rotterdam, The Netherlands and its office at Zwaanshals 530, 3035 KS Rotterdam, The Netherlands. Whiskybase B.V. is registered with the Dutch Chamber of Commerce under no. 52072819.

The Ballantine’s in the cupboard: A review of Ballantine’s 21, via a French supermarket, a Greek beach, and an esoteric pendulum. Our Service is an online platform which provides Members with information (e.g. bottle facts, market-indices, market values and prices) on (mostly) whisky and allows Members to add information to the platform. We do not sell, nor does the Service provide any option to buy, any alcoholic products. Nose: Delicate but nonetheless expressive this starts with sweet orange segments, honey, marmalades and preserves. There’s a gentle smoke here which is slightly mineral in nature and is reinforced by a heavy citrus tang that runs across the entire nose. Old wood and polish are delivered throughout (they’re less prevalent in more modern versions of this whisky) and are supported by some sharp spicing – cloves in particular, but also ginger and salt. A few drops of water brings out the underlying smokiness of the whisky further (though it’s still a subtle constituent rather than a driving force) and heightens the levels of salinity. When I wrote the tasting note for Ballantine’s 21 Years Old Blended Whisky, I vaguely remembered a news article from a few years ago. It was about thousands of liters of whisky being accidentally dumped into a sewer at the Chivas Brothers bottling plant in Dumbarton. I googled for a bit, and found the article. I remember thinking: ‘As long as it’s Ballantine’s, that’s fine by me.’ The standard Ballantine’s represents a blended whisky I once drank probably over a decade ago, didn’t like at all, and since has become a bit of a inside joke between me and a friend.Ballantine’s is the world’s second best-selling Scotch whisky (Johnnie Walker holding the top spot for many a year). Established in 1827 by George Ballantine, the blend is comprised of 50 single malts, and four grain whiskies, but draws its flavour profile primarily from Speysiders Glenburgie and Miltonduff. Currently owned by big boy Pernod Ricard, the core range of expressions is quite broad, covering NAS’s ‘Finest’ and ‘Limited’ and then extending from 12 years of age all the way to 40 with a fair few pit stops on the way. Taste: Rich and slightly oily. Toffee and caramel commence proceedings and are married very nicely with oranges, citrus peels and a scattering of fresh berries. Spicing is much more perceptible now, and favours the bitter side of things. It delivering cloves, nutmeg and a salty tang. Bitterness is balanced by a large dollop of honey, slightly heathery, but sweet enough to offset some of the heady spices. Smoke is still present, but appears as cask char rather than anything overtly phenolic. The addition of water (it doesn’t take too much, so be particularly sparing) adds a lovely salted caramel flavour as well as general creaminess. Unless mandatory applicable law provides otherwise, your use of and membership to the Service are exclusively governed by Dutch law. We shall first try to settle any dispute over a dram of whisky. Disputes that cannot be settled over multiple drams of whisky shall be solely submitted to the court of Amsterdam, The Netherlands unless mandatory applicable law provides otherwise. No partnership, joint venture, agency, or employment relationship is created as a result of your use of the Service.

If we decide not to exercise or enforce any right or provision of these Terms, such decision shall not constitute a waiver of such right or provision. We deliver to a number of international destinations including the USA. Please use the 'Change Location' link above for an estimate in your local currency or find out more about international delivery Whiskybase B.V. (“Whiskybase”, “we” or “us”, company details below) offers a whisky enthusiasts online platform that provides its members access to the most comprehensive, transparent and trusted resource of whisky bottles and allows and stimulates its members to contribute information about whisky bottles to the platform (“Service”). We may, but are not under any obligation, to release new functionalities and tools or other features for the Service every now and then. Any new functionalities, tools and features shall be part of and governed by the Terms from the moment they are launched and/or available. Further, we reserve the right to modify, change, discontinue the Service, add or remove features, update the Service, change its appearance, temporarily and permanently, at any time, in whole or any part thereof. You are responsible for all activities through your account. You are responsible for the accuracy of the information you provide to us in relation to your account, and for updating it where necessary. You are not allowed to create multiple accounts. We may terminate or temporarily suspend your account to protect you, ourselves or our partners from (suspected) identity theft or other (suspected) fraudulent (e.g. false, misleading, deceptive) activity. You have the obligation to keep your login credentials confidential. You shall not authorize any others to use or access your account.The Service has been prepared by us solely for information purposes to Members and the Service is based on information we consider reliable and we obtain the contents of the Service from a number of different third party sources (including Contributions), but we do not endorse, support, represent, warrant or guarantee the completeness, truthfulness, accuracy, or reliability of the Services and any information therein. The 21 year old sits in the middle of the core aged range of Ballantine’s expressions and was introduced in 1993. Recent bottlings have all been produced at 40% ABV (including the current ‘Signature Oak Edition’), but older versions were delivered a touch higher at 43%. We’re taking at one of the 43%ers in the form of the 21 year old ‘Very Old Scotch Whisky’ produced in the late 1990’s. The Very Old 21 year old is bottled in a blue ceramic decanter produced by the famous Wade Ceramics who have operated from the UK pottery capital of Stoke-on-Trent since 1867. The Wade decanter edition was produced in two sizes – 70cl and 50cl. Whilst long since departed, you’ll still occasionally see both versions for sale at auction – and being a blend, and not a single malt, they can often be acquired at very reasonable prices