Balvenie 12YO Single Barrel
August 2015

Balvenie 12YO Single Barrel

A classic single cask Balvenie imported to Australia specially for the Club, aged 12 years and matured in first fill American oak casks.

United Kingdom

Colour Pale straw

Nose A bounty of sweet oak and spice

Palate Rich and complex with deep vanilla oakiness. Honey notes will be overlaid with sweet fruits and subtle spices.

Finish Lingering sweetness

Food Match Generally, fat-rich foods pair well, from nuts, to cheese, to butter, to pork.

Overview

If you were to take a guided tour of The Balvenie distillery, you’d be able to draw whisky directly from a cask in Warehouse 24. With The Balvenie Single Barrel First Fill, you can essentially enjoy a similar ‘straight-from-the-cask’ experience. That is because each bottle of The Balvenie Single Barrel First Fill has been matured exclusively in a single first fill American oak ex-Bourbon barrel for 12 years.

American oak barrels are very popular in Scotland, it’s estimated that up to 90% of all Scotch is matured in American oak casks, because they impart beautiful notes of vanilla and spice to the maturing spirit. The “first fill” part comes from these barrels being used to mature Scotch whisky for the first time, after that they’ll be known as “second fill” and later yet, as “refill” casks and first fill casks impart the strongest amount of flavour to the new malt spirit. Each bottle is drawn from a single cask of a single distillation run, with each cask yielding no more than 300 bottles. No two casks, even of the same wood type and filled with spirit from the same distillation will produce identical single malt, making each Single Barrel bottling unique and unrepeatable. The process is completed when each bottle is hand-numbered with the number of the cask in which it was matured.

Stewart samples hundreds of casks using his exceptional nosing skills, refined throughout his remarkable 50-year career, and selects for Single Barrel bottling only those casks that share a consistent character of sweetness and subtle vanilla oak. Speaking of the process, he said. “There are very subtle differences from cask to cask and it gave me great satisfaction to sample these casks to find the finest ones. Each cask is unique and that is what makes each bottle of the Single Barrel First Fill 12 Year Old so exceptional.”

The Balvenie Single Barrel First Fill 12 Year Old is a non chill-filtered release with an ABV of 47.8%.

THE SPECS

Price: $115.00

Age: 12 Years Old

ABV: 47.8%

Maturation: First fill ex-Bourbon American Oak Barrel.

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The Balvenie's History

Established in 1892 by William Grant in a converted 18th century mansion, The Balvenie Distillery is one of the great success stories of Scotch whisky. Today the distillery is owned by the fifth generation of William Grant’s family, making William Grant & Sons one of the longest single-family ownerships in the world.

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Distillery Facts

Region: Speyside

Origin: Balvenie Distillery, Dufftown, AB55 4BB,Scotland, United Kingdom

Founded: 1892

Water Source: 21 springs in the Conval Hills surrounding the distillery

Washbacks: Douglas Fir

Stills: 5 wash and 6 spirit

Capacity: 5,600,000 litres per annum

Ready to enjoy a world-class whisky collection?

Your free Club Membership gives access to exclusive single malt from Scotland, Australia and the world’s best distilleries. Enjoy the unrivalled buying power of Australia's biggest whisky club.

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