Tasted as Day 23 of the 2024 Saratoga Whiskey Club Advent Calendar. Every day is a new adventure with a blind tasting, where we each try to guess the country of origin, the type and age of the whisk(e)y, the ABV, and the type of barrel/cask used for maturation, followed by a reveal at 9PM. Balmenach was founded in 1824 and is one of Speyside’s most traditional distilleries. Owned by Inver House Distillers, they make what some would call an “old-style Speyside whisky." It is highly prized in the blending world and rarely found in a stand-alone brand. This cask (# 1797, ex-bourbon barrel) was filled October 10th, 2013, and bottled February, 22nd 2024. The independent bottling brands “Cree” and “Creetown Distillers” are from the folks at the Whisky Broker Ltd. Company. Founded in 2010 by Martin Armstrong, the brand is named after their location in Creetown, Scotland. The name of the town and the brand come from the River Cree that runs through it. They are about two hours south of Glasgow, on the water looking out to the Irish Sea and the Isle of Man. They began modestly and have grown to now have their own warehouses and over 20 people on their team.