Scotland, Speyside: Single malt whisky through the producing distilleries: history, making, production and tasting notes

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The Balvenie

Description of the whisky

The distillery

Balvenie distillerie
Balvenie Distillery
Dufftown, Keith
Banffshire AB55 4BB
+44 1340 820 000
Owner William Grant & Sons Ltd
Creation date:1892

Photos

Originally founded under the name of Glen Gordon, The Balvenie is the second distillery build by William Grant (after Glenfiddich) in 1887. The stills come from the Lagavulin and Glen Albyn distilleries. The reason why William Grant preferred buying used stills was not so much economic, but he wanted to be sure the stills are working and producing a good spirit.
William Grant's distilleries were nearly the only ones who continued producing whisky during the two world wars. Nearly all the others were obliged to close because of a lack of barley.
In the 60's, The Balvenie doubled its production capacity and did the same again in the 70's. The distillery sells its whisky as single malt since 1973. In the warehouses, there should be some old casks dating from the 30's.
The Balvenie distillery is settled in the very heart of the Speyside area. The distillery has been built in 1892 from an old manor from the 18th century. The first distillation took place in 1893. Very few has changed since that time, and the distillery is really proud of its roots, and does everything it can to preserve it.
The exceptional quality of the single malt from The Balvenie is greatly due to the know-how of the craftsmen who create the whisky. Nearly all the operations in the process of making whisky happen in the distillery, from malting to repairing the casks. The Balvenie has it's own cooperage.
The Balvenie is quite different from Glenfiddich, even if both distilleries belong to the same family. The Balvenie belongs to the Grant family since 5 generations. This is a guarantee of tradition respect.
The greatest part of the production is marketed as single malt, and the remaining is uses in the Grants and Clan Mac Gregor blends, belonging to the same company.

The whisky

A propos des notes de dégustation Your own tasting notes

List of the bottles

Description of the distillery

Balvenie
whisky
O.B. Founder's Reserve 17
Double Wood 17 1/2
Single Barrel 17 1/3
Port Wood 21 years 17
Islay Cask 17 2/3
See Help 0 - 40 € 40 - 80 € 80 - 120 € 120 - 160 € 160 - 200 € 200 - 240 € 240 - 280 € > 280 €
 The Balvenie: Official bottlings
 

The Balvenie
10 years
Founder's reserve
Age
 10 years
Alcohol
 43°
Bottler
 Official
=25 euros< 25 euros
 Balvenie 01
The nose is full and complex, with hints of honey and oranges, and a very light hint of peat.
The palate reveals a honey sweetness with a touch of spices and sherry.
The finish is long and pleasant.

(la Maison du Whisky)

Obviously, when speaking about Speyside, it is difficult not to mention the Grant family, who is famous for their business genius with Glenfiddich, and a particular competence to produce an excellent whisky like The Balvenie. Even this rather young version, 10 years old, is an essential must in matter of whisky. The Balvenie is obviously one of the best things the Speyside area ever has produced.

The second tasting revealed a good whisky, with a taste close to honey, a very long finish and the whole was preceded by a pleasant smell. Without being the best of all, this bottle remains very good.

The complex nose mixes acid citrus fruits and sweet honey notes with some spices. In the palate, a kind of bitterness dominates at first, but gradually honey and oranges emerge. A lingering finish, with some acid touches but also some slightly woody hints.
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The Balvenie
Double Wood
Age
 12 years
Alcohol
 40°
Casks
 Bourbon
Sherry
Bottler
 Official
=25 euros< 25 euros
 Balvenie double wood
 The colour is amber, and the nose detects sherry, citrus fruits, honey and vanilla.
The palate evokes the sherry sweetness, citrus fruit and spices. The finish is long and warm.
During its maturation, the whisky is transferred from a traditional oak bourbon cask in a sherry cask.
This different steps give the final result its quality. The traditional oak sweetens and give it some character, and the sherry cask brings the depth and plenty fragrance.

(la Maison du Whisky)
This great classic stays a sure value. The happiness begins by the nose... Immediately one knows there is a very great malt in the glass. The sherry finish gives the pitch and promises a great sweet whisky, aromatically very rich. The finish is also very long and extremely pleasant. An excellent Speyside, which is really affordable.

The nosing remains a great moment of happiness. A typical sweetness overcomes the nose immediately. The impression in the palate is less clear. A kind of taste duality, probably due to the double maturation gives some problems in the right evaluation of it. A too short final, and the first rating is slightly modified...

At the third tasting, the nose was rather discrete, revealing some floral hints on a vanilla background. In the palate, the vanilla was still present, with a touch of spices and a discrete hint of sherry. The sherry is present in the rather long finish as well. The finish is further marked by some citrus fruit hints.

A nice nose marked by beautiful roasted barley hints with clear vanilla notes, nice hints of fruit and a hint of marshmallow. A well balanced whisky and probably a very smooth one.
In the palate, nice roasted cereal hints, walnut and malt. Some chocolate too. Quite an interesting and relatively complex mouth. The balance the nose announced is perfectly confirmed in the palate.
The finish is smooth and lingering. The chocolate notes and the nutty hints of both the nose and mouth are plainly present here too. A very nice bottle I really recommend.
 

Comment by Henrik Johansson

Appearance: The colour is like concentrated apple-juice. Copper.
Nose: Nice, quite citric and fresh but deep and nutty at the same time. Some rubber comes forward while new wood and curry powder lingers in the background. Lots of fruits. Diluted nose lends more fragrant notes with some feints.
Body: Quite firm, full bodied but doesn't feel oily.
Palate: Warm and sweet with some nuttyness. Dryer towards the finish. The nose gave a better impression than the palate.

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The Balvenie
Portwood 21 years
Age
 21 years
Alcohol
 40°
Cask
 Port
Bottler
 Official
=25 euros=25 euros=25 euros
 Balvenie Portwood
 The very soft nose recalls precious wood (rose wood) with a touch of spices (pepper). A fragrance of ripe and fruity grape is followed by a dryer nuts one.
The palate is winy and fruity (orange, peach). The subtle finish is slightly bitter. Fruit touches, recalling honey and spices finish the remarkably creamy character , before the long finish, with a sweet hazelnut taste.
After ageing in a traditional cask, this whisky has been transferred in a port cask ("pipe"). The maturation and finishing process is regularly checked..

The Balvenie PortWood won a golden medal at the "International Spirits Challenge 2001”
The nose recalls red fruits macerated in alcohol. If the port finish usually brings the whisky a great sweetness, the bitter impression is dominant in this version. The complex taste, with some acid touches, is closer to a sherry finish as from a port finish. The finish from an average length. An excellent bottle, but I was a little bit disappointed. I'll probably have to taste it a second time in better conditions...

At the second tasting, the nose was rather rich, sweet and spicy at the time. In the palate, this whisky is pleasant, with some citrus hints, on a malty background. Sweet with some more bitter or acid touches. A relatively short, however interesting finish.

The nose is very perfumed, with floral and honeyish hints. A touch of smoke too. A kind of fruity freshness. The palate is sweet as well, with a very light touch oc acidity, but it remains rather boring and monotonous. No surprise. The mouth is "honnest", but banal. The finish is quite long, marked by the same honeyish sweetness and the same acid touch than nose and mouth were.

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The Balvenie
Islay Cask
Age
 17 years
Alcohol
 43°
Particularity
 Only 94 casks are available
Cask
 Islay Whisky
=25 euros=25 euros=25 euros=25 euros=25 euros=25 euros< 25 euros
 Balvenie Islay Cask
 The superb colour is old gold. The nose, smoky and slightly medicinal recalls liquorice, citrus fruits (pickled orange), ripe fruits (peach) and smooth vanilla touches.
The palate is even more surprising, and reveals peat, malted smoked barley, roots, and confirms the intense liquorice feeling the nose first detected.
The long finish goes to oily touches of flowers (broom, mimosa). The peaty character of this great whisky is much lighter as the Islay whiskies, where the sea influence is more present.
The whisky spent the 6 last months of its maturation in cask having contained Islay malt, after 17 years in traditional bourbon casks.
Only 94 casks has had this kind of aging, and the result is a perfect harmony between the smoked and peaty character of Islay, and the smoother character of a traditional Balvenie
 Strange combination, the jewel of the Speyside area matured in casks having contained smoky and peaty whisky from Islay. The first contact is disconcerting. The nose offers a mix of unexpected fragrances, but is rather interesting. The palate is special too. A Speyside with Islay hints. Salt-sugared. Good whisky. An oily impression too. A finish of average length. A very good bottle.

During the second tasting, a slightly acid dominant characteristic and a relatively short finish made me review my first quotation. The salted hints, inherited from the stay in Islay cask are still present.

During the third tasting, this whisky seemed to be completely different from the 2 first times (own taste evolution, or action of the time on the spirit?). The nose is very fruity, revealing clearly pear fragrances and a nice complexity. In the palate, this whisky is nicely fruity and complex, mixing pear hints to clearly floral notes, on an earthy background, giving to this whisky a kind of musty impression, probably due to the influence of the Islay cask. The finish is lingering and floral, and very interesting.

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The Balvenie
Single cask
15 years
Age
 15 years
Alcohol
 47.8°
Particularity
 Single cask
=25 euros=25 euros=25 euros< 25 euros
 Balvenie Single cask
The colour is pale gold. The nose is dry and reveals heather and exotic fruits touches. The palate, with fine wood hints confirms the nose. The finish is dry and spicy.

(la Maison du Whisky)

 The traditional Balvenie lover can be a little thrown by this bottle, not far from a cask strength, but far from the traditional Balvenie taste. The honey sweetness is not present here. Some more acid touches, cut grass (?) or citrus fruits. The whole is rather refreshing, despite the strong alcohol degree. One would prefer a longer finish.

Just like the first time, I was rather surprised by this very good whisky which does not taste like most of the Speyside malts. There is something special in the taste (heather?) which makes it really a whisky a part. A very good bottling.

The nose, revealing some remote hints of undergrowth with slight tingling's and which express a rather acid character and a wax smell is quite surprising. In the palate, this whisky is rather complex and this acidity remains together with some exotic fruits. The finish is definitely too short. A nice whisky.
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Speyside

Speyside Map

The Speyside area is situated at the North of the Cairngorm mountain and goes to the Moray firth. It is delimited by two rivers: the Findhorn at the West side and the Deveron on the East side.
The area is named after the river Spey. Most of the distilleries take their water in one of its affluents; the Fiddich, the Livet or the Avon.
About sixty distilleries from Speyside are described on this site.

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