The Balvenie Distillery
The Balvenie was built by William Grant in 1892 in Dufftown, right in the heart of Speyside, and just down the road from Glenfiddich, with which they share the Robbie Rhu springs as their water source and also share their head distiller. However, the two whiskies varied wildly in character. While The Balvenie is an iconic name in the world of Single Malt, it is one of the few distilleries who have their own maltings and cooperage on site, as well as using local peat and some barley grown on site. With Malt Master David C. Stewart at the helm, they are pioneers in cask finishing, with the ex-Bourbon and ex-Sherry casks combination so familiar to us today first launched in 1983. Over the last two decades, they have become one of the top ten best selling Single Malts, with numerous core bottling picking up countless awards. The Balvenie style is rich, exceptionally smooth, and with pronounced honeyed and ripe fruit flavours that take on the influence of wood so well.