What do you do when you have a winner, a cracking whisk called the Tun 1401 and you can not keep up with demand? You build a bigger Tun, that can hold a lot more. A good idea, right? I have not tried the first batch out of the 1509, but fortunately I was able to buy a share of a bottle from a whisky friends’ bottle share, as I was very curious about how this is. I’ve tasted 3 or 4 batches from the Tun 1401 line, and they were all excellent (some better, of course).
Batch #2 of the Tun 1509 features a marriage of 32 different casks, selected by David Stewart (23 American oak casks and nine European oak sherry casks), spending a few months in the huge Tun as they harmonize, to create this whisky. What is very cool in those Tun releases is the transparency, the Balvenie have attached an info graphic containing data and info about each and every of those 32 casks which went into the vatting, each with a cask # and characteristics (it is forbidden by SWA laws to indicate age, as we’ve seen done in the latest Compass Box feud).
The Balvenie Tun 1509 , Batch #2 , NAS , 50.3%. £250 
Nose : I was expecting more wood initially but nevertheless this is lovely. Vanilla ice cream with berries on top. Honey, biscuits and maybe a hint of rose water. Now the wood kicks in. Old Dunnage house sort of aromas. wood. Mossy wood. Sour balsamic. And died fruit sherry style.
Palate : spicy entry with pepper and ginger then getting creamier and Sweeter with milk chocolate and more dried fruit. Golden syrup and sweet malty luscious sugars.
Finish : Sweet dried fruit, honeyed malt biscuits,wood spice.
This is a great whisky, lovely stuff, but having tasted previous editions of the smaller tun (and scored them over 90) , I must say I find myself a bit disappointed. The old wood profile is missing most of the time, and for 250 quid, I can think of better vatted NAS whiskies around. Too bad. Hopefully batch #3 will be different, as those usually are. This is a great whisky, but I know The Balvenie can do better.
Not a bottle. A sample