Where Fiddichside is obviously Glenfiddich, Burnside is their neighbouring distillery of Balvenie. As with many distilleries nowadays, they don’t want their distillery name on the label, and on top of that things have to be bottled as a blended malt. Tea-spooned with a drop of something else.
Whether or not that last bit actually happens or is just stated on the label in uncertain, but with this one being a blended malt AND a single cask, I have my doubts. Nonetheless, even if there’s a drop of something else in the cask, it doesn’t really matter in regard to flavour.
Oksamyt supposedly is a Russian style of red wine. However, the internet is very sparse with information on it. When Googling it, I get things about knitwear, a hotel in Ukraine and a dog kennel. When Googling ‘Oksamyt Wine’ I get this whisky. So, no idea indeed.
When there’s not much to go by in regard to information, we have to go by flavour, and that’s what counts in the end anyway. So here we go!
Sniff:
Mature malt with definite influences of oak and vanilla. On top of that is a layer of gentle red fruits. Both fresh and stewed strawberries, blackberries. Balvenie’s typical notes of honey are there too. It’s quite mature on the nose.
Sip:
The palate certainly has all the ABV that is on the label. A rather sharp oakiness, with quite a bit of hot peppers. The red fruit is here, but is playing second or third fiddle. Some honey sweetness when it calms down a little bit.
Swallow:
The finish shows more typical red wine cask notes, along with a slight meaty note and some rancio. The meaty note adds a bit of a weird sweetness, like decaying meat, in a way.
It reminds me of Balvenie’s Port Wood, apart from all flavours being amped up a little bit. The wine is definitely there, but it is surprisingly lovely. Notes of red fruits are added to the barley and honey from the distillery, and it works really well.
87/100
Malt Fascination 