And not just any Archives, but a bottling for the Canadian market. It’s not labeled with a Samoan fish, which seems to be the main go-to style. This one has a British dragonfly on the label.

Burnside then. This isn’t a distillery and is usually used for tea-spooned Balvenie. This means that it, for tasting purposes, can be regarded as an independent Balvenie. However, for legal purposes, there’s a tea spoon of Glenfiddich added to it, which makes it neither a Balvenie nor a Single Malt, officially.

Interestingly, the whisky industry has more or less agreed upon the names for tea-spooned malts like this. Burnside is Balvenie, Westport is Glenmorangie, Wardhead is Glenfiddich. There probably are more that I can’t remember at the moment.

Sniff:
Brioche and honey, a surprisingly sweet single malt. Toast with apricot jam and, somehow, pine cones.

Sip:
Gentle without being weak. There’s a tinge of a dry, oaky bite. Definitely some sweeter oak notes, with the apricots from before. Not the toast though. Honey sweetness, pine and resin, with a syrupy mouthfeel.

Swallow:
The finish brings a different kind of wood. More like old casks, some vanilla and dunnage warehouses. Still that pine and honey combination.

Generally I don’t like too sweet whiskies, but this one… damn. Perfectly balanced between all kinds of flavors, with that honey sweetness to bring it all together.

90/100

Available in the secondary market for around € 250