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.