Kingsbarns Balcomie

Too young and unbalanced, sharp. Oloroso is less noticeable in the mouth in the nose. In the nose I found it a bit unpleasantly sour. Price performance is less correct for me

This Kingsbarns is only five years old and has plenty of potential; the 3-year-old Dream to Dram was rougher for me, the 7-year-old Doocot was already good; this Balcomie is somewhere halfway between the two; I would definitely recommend adding a little water. Color - bright, sparkling gold

Quick hit review. A heavy sherry overcoat is well-suited to mask the flaws of a young whisky, though in this case, it succeeded only partially. On the nose, I'm getting prune juice, ripe grapes and baking spices, joined by bitter chocolate, caramel and nail polish remover. It is quite youthful and feisty. Plum butter, baked apple and nutmeg kick off the palate before the sweetness intensifies into orange jam. Some rough edges remain. The medium-length finish fades with stewed fruits, cocoa and fresh herbs. If you want to give Kingsbarns a try, go for the 'Doocat' instead. RATING: 2.9/5.0 stars ≙ 78 pts → AVERAGE [-]

an easy-drinking-dram, simple and solid no painting for me there is hardly any sherry to be noticed in the nose

Sure a quite young whisky. But for that nice. Fruity, pears apple is can taste, a bit of rasberry, slight oak. I like it. Very drinkable. I give 87 points as it is obiously one of few examples of pleasing young whiskies of new distilleries.

Rather young, not quite sharp but still… the cask must have been a third or fourth fill.

official information: This Single Malt from the family owned distillery in the Kingdom of Fife has been distilled using Fife barley and matured in ex-Oloroso American Oak Sherry Butts used previously for maturing Sherry. These casks were chosen for their gentle oak flavours and sherry rich sweetness to compliment the fruit character of the Kingsbarns spirit. A perfect balance between the spirit and the wood. CATEGORY: Single Malt Scotch Whisky REGION: Lowland CASK TYPE: 100% ex-Oloroso American Oak Sherry Butts ABV: 46% alc./vol. CHILL FILTRATION: No COLOUR: Natural RETAIL SELLING PRICE (incl. VAT): £49.99 tasting notes by Peter Holroyd (Distillery Manager) NOSE: Treacle, sultanas, fruit loaf with cinnamon icing, a touch of dark chocolate with summer berries. PALATE: Sweet tinned pineapple up front, orange peel, cake spice. FINISH: Lots of dried apricot and a hint of roasted hazelnut on the finish.

An interesting young single malt. You can try it, but I wouldn't buy it for the price. 46% look good on him.

There is definitely potential in this malt, even if it is still a bit young at the moment. Despite its young age, it does not skimp on the influence of barrels and oak notes. Compared to other bottlings from the distillery, however, I have to say that the Kingsbarns Spirit harmonizes a little better with bourbon casks than with sherry. This has also been remarked on several times by Distillery Manager Peter Holroyd. I'm still looking forward to older sherry casks from the distillery. https://www.aboutwhisky.de/tastingnotes/kingsbarns-balcomie/

Pretty irrelevant.

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Another bottling from the probably most-overhyped new distillery Kingsbarns. This bottling joins the ranks of the other previous Kingsbarns bottlings that continue to deliver ammunition to the abundant prejudices against Kingsbarns (e.g. Gadget Distillery for the abundant golfers there).

(TASTED BLIND) NOSE: Fruity. Fresh orchard fruits, some tropical fruit notes as well, lime, a little vanilla. Later also dried fruit notes of dried banana and coconut. In the background some depper and sweeter bourbon (cask) notes. Clean, fruity and nice. (88p). TASTE: The arrival is slightly sweet, bourbony and fruity. On the mid palate some wood spice and fruity acidity, while retaining the sweetness. Tastefull (if that makes sense). (87-88p). FINISH: The fruitiness now becomes drier and a bit more acidic, the sweetness dries up and the wood spice increases a little. (87p). OVERALL: A consistent whisky where the tastecurve curves rather lightly and progresses seemlessly from start to finish. Consistent, predictable and tasty. Also slightly on the acidic side (which I tend to like). But not complex. Total score 87 points.

Red apple, vanilla, slightly beer-like malt and a bit of smoke. A light whiff of mint.

1832) Kingsbarns, Balcomie (Bottled 2020)

Trial Olympics 2022 sample 3 Smell: vanilla, orange, peach, something sour and something musty, almost seems to smell like mushroom, later ginger. Flavor: vanilla, more orange peel, bitters Finish: bitter, almost seems to have some sulfur in it.

Tasting: September 2022

Quite pleasantly sweet on the nose with summer orchard and syrupy honey and baking spices. On the palate, lovely thick oily creamy taste with bitter french oak spice influence seeming to dominate the initial fruits. Dark chocolate and touch of berries. A good budget easy sipper with a great mouthfeel, however a bit unbalanced towards bitter notes.

This is really not a good whisky, seldom drunk such a bad, unbalanced and immature whisky. In addition, it does not justify the price in any way. I wouldn't even buy it again for 5 €. The smell was probably the best. A disappointment across the board. I bet that the whisky could have stayed in the barrel longer and still hadn't changed the finish. It would probably have gotten worse. That happens when you don't value quality.

Geur: vanille fruit gras rubber. De alcohol brandt erg. Bitter, medicinaal, niet lekker.

The Oloroso influence is still very youthful, nutty on the nose, slightly sour. On the palate, however, already nice honey notes with strawberry vanilla. Something could become of them!

2021-10-06

Pleasantly round in the mouth, otherwise rather very, very young. 61-70 - Okay, but not more than 1 dram

Timid nose: some vanilla and scones. On the tongue a slight cloying sweetness which worsens with water. floral and bitter. latter taking over at the finish with a spicy bite. The problem with this kind of whisky is that I would have no idea when or with what to drink it.

There is potential in the Kingsbarns story; a young distillery that opened in 2014. I've already tasted a few of their concoctions and they are always different. And that is good! It shows that they are fully experimenting. And even though I believe in the story and see the potential of the drams, I think they have so far failed to deliver a full-fledged end product. You can taste again and again that they are almost there, but there is always a weirdness in it. Looking forward to future older drams from this distillery.

Kingsbarns Balcomie SMSW 46%. 30ml sample May 2023. Golden yellow. Aroma is pungent, browned apple, earthy rhubarb stick. I didn’t like the initial aroma but when given time it settled a little into raspberry notes. A little overly estery and young perhaps. Body is watery. Taste is a little spiky up front, salty - somewhat tangy - spirit, a little bit meaty but that vibe is overpowered by the ethanol, little complexity and immature, some rough edges here. Not very good unfortunately. I don’t recall having a whisky from this distillery before, and this first impression could have been a lot better. 2.9/70

Overly woody and sour, actively offensive and unbalanced

Yeah, not bad, had some worse things so young from my German homeland, but also from Japan. At the same time a bit characterless and especially in the finish, the extreme youth comes through.

Sample nr. 3 Proefolympics

hot sugar syrup

While doing the research on this, it seems like the Internet view is luke warm. Some of it seems to be snobbery due to the fact the distillery is Lowland, very new and created by a caddy. Then there's also that the oloroso sherry butts that the Balcomie is aged in, were once part of Solera systems and that the spirit can't be more than 5 years old due to the age of the distillery. I don't see why any of that matters. I thought this was pretty good. I feel like I'm getting increasingly fussy over Sherry influence but a balanced and moderate expression like this one, that can deliver without getting too sweet, is right in my wheelhouse. For me, the bulk of the experience took place in the mid section, with the beginning and end in more supporting, resonant roles. It started more Sherry heavy but by the end is all Malty and all the while, there are these medium/dark chocolate through lines, complemented by the fruit then umami, then confectionary, barley and finally the leather. In terms of a constructed narrative of flavours, not bad at all. Texturally, it transitions from buttery to something lighter by the end, but it is never thin and the spice tingles remain for some time.

Very fruity and floral. Lovely dram with some sweetness and a touch of creaminess. It's a shame that the finish is quite short. Nevertheless, the perfect summer dram!

very young character, sharp, bitter, new make, a little flat

To be honest, after the other Kingsbarns, I saw some potential, but this one isn’t better at all, alas. The nose seems to show the potential, but taste-wise this is lacking a fair bit after the other release. You might think, give it some slack, they are new, just started up and so forth. However, I’m writing this review having just been at the London Whisky Show, and actually this year (2021), a lot of new distilleries were present, and I can report to you that I tasted a lot of fairly new distilleries that have come a long way further with their young Whiskies than Kingsbarns have at this moment. So it can be done. Ardnamurchan and Copenhagen Distillery to name but a few, both from a colder climate, but also Milk and Honey (M&H) from Israel, but they have the advantage of climate which ages the Whisky faster. Still, these are all young distilleries making great Whisky. A lot of work to do for Kingsbarns, just keep at it!

Amber. Pleasant nose with lots of fruit (green and yellow apple), sweet vanilla, and also something earthy/salty/smoky. The latter probably comes from the sherry barrel. The palette gives a bit of fresh fruit but also a lot of wood, especially towards the back when sharper herbs are added. The finish continues with sour apple and bitter wood. A pleasant nose with an interesting undertone. However, palette and finish are very standard like a simple young whisky.