Balvenie PortWood 21 year-old

Happy Halloween! Halloween is my absolutely favorite holiday, if it can be considered a holiday. As excited as I am to pass out candy with my boyfriend this evening, I am also sleepy, tired and feeling exhausted. For all those that don’t know, I live in Boston and I am a Boston Red Sox fan. I didn’t go out partying last night in celebration of their World Series win, but since I live in the city, the screams of people and the cars honking out in the streets from people celebrating, kept me up pretty late.

I can sit here and complain about that, but moments like last night don’t happen very often, so to be honest, I didn’t quite mind. Bring on the coffee and exhaustion, I can certainly take it!

Maybe it was partly due to exhaustion but when thinking about what whisky to write about today, I was at a loss. There are so many great whiskies out there; it’s always pretty hard to choose. With that in mind I thought that a World Series win doesn’t happen often, so I decided that today’s post would be Balvenie PortWood 21. Mainly because what also doesn’t happen very often, are moments where I get a chance to taste great expensive whisky.

Balvenie PortWood 21 is a great whisky but it is expensive. The price range of this bottle is $175-$240. As I’ve said before, if I were to purchase every bottle of whisky I tasted, I would be extremely poor. Having a dram of this 21 year-old was a courtesy of my friend Kevin who bought the bottle.

My experience:
This great whisky is finished in port casks, which in my opinion only enhances its unique flavor.

Smell: woodsy and fruity
Taste: Strong and creamy, with notes of honey and fruit.
Finish: A delightful burn

I very much enjoyed this whisky; I would not buy it only because it’s expensive, but I loved it and am grateful to have had the chance to try it. For all my non whisky drinkers out there if you ever get such an opportunity to try it, then I recommend you do.

Even if you don’t try this one in particular, if you are just starting to get into whisky, know that you don’t have to be an expert to try and appreciate whisky. Everyone has to start somewhere. Most of my whisky drinking memories are filled with stories from sharing them with friends and love ones.

What you do you need to keep in mind is that your palette will not match other people’s palette. If you enjoyed a dram or if you don’t, then don’t let anyone or a supposed “whisky expert” tell you otherwise because you aren’t wrong in what you tasted. Everyone will have a different opinion and taste when it comes to the same dram.

Cheers!

PS – Stay safe if you are headed out this evening taking kids trick-or-treating and even if you are not!