The Balvenie is a revered Scotch whisky brand with a history dating back to 1892. That was the year industry legend William Grant set out to build his dream distillery next to the 13th-century castle that gave the liquid its name.
The Balvenie means “village of fortune” in Scots, which is quite appropriate considering the depth of fortune required to get your hands on its latest release: the rarest single 50-year-old cask the distillery has ever produced. We’ve provided a valuable liquid pour to give you a preview of what awaits under the cork.
The Balvenie Fifty Collection is coming out this month, the first in a trilogy of half-century-old single malts scheduled to be released over the next three years. We’ll only see 125 bottles of each globally. The First Edition is extruded entirely from a single European oak barrel that was first filled in 1973. A solid decanter of the 104.6% ABV whiskey is suggested to sell for $53,000. And with only 14 of them making it to American shelves, it’s likely to sell for much more than that in secondary markets.
Cask number 8,720 was hand-selected by Balvenie malt master Kelsey McKechnie for its unearthly elegance and seductive complexity. At first whiff, it offers plenty of stone fruit aromas. But after letting it sit in the glass – even for a moment – the bouquet soon becomes that of candied hazelnut spice. The malt house’s signature style includes honey, vanilla and orchard fruit. When it greets the palate, this special cask cranks all of these elements to full volume before evolving into a light splash of citrusy bergamot.
Usually, to combine all those notes into a single expression, maltsters must combine dozens—even hundreds—of barrels during the casking process. Here, McKechnie found everything in one lucky pot of liquid gold. It didn’t happen by chance.
“Each edition in this collection is a testament to the craftsmanship that has defined our liquid for the last 50 years,” he explains. “Using a reserve barrel for the First Edition provides us with a distinct flavor thread that will be used in our next two releases, showcasing the range of flavors and aromas in our aged spirit.”
The thick-gauge bottle sits inside a plinth tube made of four layers of wood, displaying a spiral structure that opens slightly to give a clue to the treasure hidden within.
It’s an impressive statement, but it’s not quite as over-the-top as the approach we’ve seen with other ultra-rare releases over the last few years. The restraint is a feature rather than a flaw: Balvenie wants its liquid to do the talking.
Related: I’ve Tasted Hundreds of Whiskeys. This Classic Luxury Scotch Is the Best You Can Get