Balveni has several features that give reason to call the distillery unique. It is the only distillery in Scotland that grows its own barley for production, still using traditional run-of-the-mill malting, and also has its own team of coopers and coppersmiths to make barrels of various shapes and sizes. And yet, and this is the most important point, the Commander of the Order of the British Empire, the legendary David Stewart, master of William Grant & Sons, works here. The most successful blended Grant’s, single malt Glenfiddich and Balvenie are his work. By his own efforts, Balveni became the IWSC Distillery of the Year 6 times.
Historical reference. It all started with the purchase by William Grant of the abandoned Balvenie estate, with a building that he thought was ideal for a distillery. This happened in 1892, and a year later the first spirits appeared. At first they were used only for Grant’s blends. To expand the distillery in 1923 began the son of the founder of William Grant & Sons – John. He increased the area of the workshops, replaced three small malt houses with the traditional current one, which is still used today. A complete reconstruction was completed in 1929.
The distillery worked during the Second World War, although the volume of spirits produced became smaller and some of them went to the front. A significant event for the distillery and the company as a whole was the arrival of an auxiliary worker, seventeen-year-old David Stewart in 1962.
The significance of the event was appreciated in 1974, when Stewart became a master. The first bottle of Balveny single malt was released in 1971, but its appearance passed almost unnoticed. The success of Balvenie whiskey is directly related to the fourth Master Blend in the history of the company. Stuart experimented for a long time with sequential aging in different types of barrels, thanks to him a new term appeared in the production of whiskey – additional aging, or finish.
In 1982, the drink that is today known as the Balvenie Classic appeared, rated by Bill Murray in the Whiskey Bible at 100 points out of a hundred possible. Five years later, in 5, the Balvenie distillery bottled 1987-year-old whiskey, and five years later three original Balvenie varieties were released – a ten-year-old Founder’s, a 50-year-old DoubleWood and a 5-year-old Single Barrel.
Despite his advanced age, David Stewart still continues to work – he teaches young masters of the Balveni distillery, conducts master classes. And the drinks he created continue to collect awards at prestigious competitions.
Types of adhesive tape Balveni
Balvenie Caribbean Cask, 14 Years Old, 43%. Fourteen-year-old spirits for single malt scotch were additionally aged in West Indian rum barrels, the blend of which was compiled by David Stewart specifically for this whiskey. The result is an amber-golden drink with a rounded honey taste, with hints of creamy caramel and vanilla. It has a light aroma with notes of apples, honey and vanilla, and a warm, long aftertaste. Recommended as a digestif, drink clean.
Balvenie Doublewood, 17 Years Old, 43%. Scotch was created by David Stewart in 2012 in honor of the 50th anniversary of working at the distillery. He used the tradition of cask finishing – sequential maturation: spirits mature for 17 years in bourbon casks, acquire a golden color and taste sweet with notes of vanilla, and then aged for one and a half to two years in sherry casks, and in the aroma of the drink spicy shades appear, and notes of dried cherries appear in the taste. Whiskey two years in a row – in 2013 and 2014, received the IWSC gold award, as well as silver Scotch Whiskey Masters and International Spirits Challenge in the same years. It is recommended to drink scotch clean.
Balvenie Single Barrel, Sherry Cask, 15 Years Old, 47,8%. The limited release of scotch was created in 2014 – only 650 bottles per batch. A golden honey drink aged 15 years in a sherry cask, it has a spicy aroma with notes of cherry jam, dried fruits, nutmeg and roasted almonds. In the volumetric taste, hints of sherry, almonds and raisins are noticeable. In 2014, the whiskey received the IWSC Silver Award.
