The Balvenie 12YO 'American Oak' Single Malt Whisky

Stories always start at the beginning (unless they're one of those purposely confusing stories like Memento or those Funnybones books - it's never explained why they're skeletons!), and this is the introductory release from The Balvenie Stories range! These releases all give light to events and people in Balvenie's past and present - this one, for example, takes inspiration from apprentice malt master Kelsey McKechnie and her idea to import virgin oak barrels from Kentucky and deeply toast them at the distillery's cooperage. They were then filled with Balvenie's ex-bourbon oak aged whisky for a finishing period, resulting in... Well, this very whisky you see here!

Nose: Lusciously malty with some sweet fudge, followed by citrusy and oak vanilla aromas with layers of spicy oak notes of ginger and cinnamon.

Palate: Candied orange and lemon peel, vanilla toffee and butterscotch, layers of blossom honey, some melted brown sugar and oak spices at the end.

Finish: Rich and malty with gentle waves of oak vanilla and subtle spices.

Alcohol Vol. 43%

Balvenie is one of the most famous names in the world of whisky. It is a large distillery capable of producing over 5.5 million litres of spirit a year and is described as 'the complete distillery', due to the fact that every process of production takes place on the site. This includes growing the barley on land adjoining the distillery buildings (the only distillery to do this), having an active malting floor and making casks in their own cooperage. Balvenie has been one of the world's best selling single malt whiskies for a number of years and consistently remains in the top 10.

Balvenie's history

Balvenie opened in 1892 by William Grant, who wanted to build a new distillery in order to help his other distillery at Glenfiddich to meet consumer demand. Glenfiddich had opened six years earlier and its whisky was proving extremely popular, so Grant decided to renovate nearby Balvenie House and its outbuildings. He bought and installed equipment that was deemed surplus at the Lagavulin and Glen Albyn distilleries. The distillery's success was almost instantaneous, following on from Glenfiddich's impressive start. Most of the whisky produced at Balvenie was put towards Grant & Sons range of blended whiskies, especially Grant's which has been one of the UK's and the world's top selling blends for many years. Regular single malt releases only really became common in the early 1970s and the reputation of its sweet, creamy, rich whisky grew rapidly. This popularity led Grant & Sons to build another distillery next door and Kininvie started production in 1990. Kininvie was built solely to take the weight off Balvenie and Glenfiddich and everything produced there goes towards the Grant's blended range. Balvenie and Glenfiddich now concerntrate on meeting demand for their single malts, with only a small percentage now going to Grant's new blend called Monkey Shoulder. Balvenie remains under the ownership of the Grant family, making William Grant & Sons one of the longest single family ownerships in the world.