18. November 2024
The Balvenie Fifty: a whisky of craftsmanship
With ‘The Balvenie Fifty Collection’, the renowned Speyside distillery is honouring five decades of outstanding craftsmanship. This collection, which is limited to just 125 bottles per year, embodies the spirit of The Balvenie: tradition, innovation and unrivalled care.
Unique trilogy spanning five decades
The collection consists of three carefully selected single cask bottlings that trace the history and development of the distillery in an impressive way. It starts with the First Edition, a 50-year-old single malt matured in a European oak refill butt. This exceptional cask, bottled in 1973, was selected by Malt Master Kelsey McKechnie, who continues the distillery’s legacy and sets new standards with her expertise.
A sensory masterpiece
The First Edition impresses with a complex flavour profile:
- Dark fruits, cassis and candied apricots unfold on the nose, accompanied by cedar wood and a warm spiciness.
- The palate is dominated by notes of caramelised fruit, fine spices and velvety vanilla, which are perfectly rounded off by ginger spiciness and citrus nuances.
- The finish is long-lasting and testifies to the depth that the European oak has given the whisky.
In the coming years, the trilogy will be completed with further casks from 1973 and 1974, including an American oak hogshead and a third, equally characterful cask. Each bottling complements the others and creates an incomparable interplay of flavours.
Tradition meets innovation
The roots of the collection go back to 1973, when the legendary Malt Master David C. Stewart filled the first cask and laid the foundation for the craftsmanship of The Balvenie today. Since then, the distillery has produced numerous innovations, including the pioneering cask finishing process. This process still characterises the unmistakable style of The Balvenie today and is being further developed by Kelsey McKechnie.
The Balvenie Fifty is available on request
For a personal consultation, our team looks forward to hearing from you. We are happy to receive orders via email at info@dettling-marmot.ch or by phone at +41 44 787 45 45.
About The Balvenie
The Balvenie Distillery has changed very little since its inception. To this day, its single malts are produced in the traditional way, giving these whiskies their unique flavour. The Balvenie is the only distillery that still grows its own barley, practises the traditional floor malting method and employs its own coppersmith and coopers. This is why The Balvenie is still one of the malts that involves the highest level of craftsmanship. The close cooperation that exists between David C. Stewart and the distillery’s coopers means that new kinds of wooden barrels are constantly being developed. Each whisky has its own individual flavour, but they are all rich and extremely smooth with underlying notes of sweet honey. Together with its sister distillery, Glenfiddich, The Balvenie is still an independent business and owned by the family of its founders.
