The official Balvenie core range includes the standard 10 years old 'Founders Reserve', the 12yo
'DoubleWood', the 15yo 'Single Barrel' (shown in the picture at the left) and the 21yo 'Port Wood'.
Actually, that's just the 'core' core range - the 25yo 'Single Barrel' is a fairly regular release and
bottlings like the 1989 and 1991 'Port Wood' and the 17yo 'Islay Cask' were available for a longer
period of time as well. (See the Balvenie website for the details of their current range.) Balvenie
also provides a fine example of the irrelevance of the 'terroir' theories on Scotch whisky in modern
times. Balvenie and Glenfiddich are located next to each other and use the same water source.
Nevertheless, the whiskies are quite different from each other...

The Balvenie distillery in Dufftown (not to be confused with the
Balvenie castle shown in the picture at the right) was built in 1892
by W. & J. Grant, owners of the Glenfiddich distillery nearby. More
than a century later they are still 'sister stills', owned by the very
same company that originally built them; William Grant & Sons.

As you can see at the left, the official bottlings are beautifully designed. Well, actually, official
bottlings are all you're likely to find; the 'brand' is jealously protected and just like Glenfiddich,
independent bottlings are very rare. That being said, I've tried an excellent 31yo Glenfiddich
from Cadenhead's and the maniacs found some independently owned casks of Balvenie as well.
but these are exceptions. Ordinarily, every single cask of Balvenie or Glenfiddich that is sold to
brokers or blenders is 'polluted' with a small quantity of the other malt, making it a vatted malt.
That means that it's illegal to sell this malt whisky ('Wardhead' is the name for Glenfiddich with
a dash of Balvenie while 'Burnside' is Balvenie with a little Glenfiddich) as a single malt whisky.

I've actually tried one of these vatted malts - although I'm not sure which one.
The 'Burn of Speyside' 6yo 1996 vatted malt is sold in Holland by Van Wees. They've added a
charming little story about a sunken ship (a la Whisky Galore) but research by Robin Brilleman
has shown that it was just a 'fender bender'.

And after having sampled it I can say that this 6yo old vatted malt
whisky can't hold a candle to the older, official bottlings of Balvenie,
or to Glenfiddich OB's for that matter. In fact, I haven't tried a bad
Balvenie yet and its sister distillery Glenfiddich seems on the way
up as well. An old 'Over 8yo' expression bottled in the 1960's was
much better than any Glenfiddich from the 1990's (except the 15yo
Cask Strength perhaps), but the third millennium looks promising...

1) A 50yo Balvenie from 1952 was released in 2002; after half a century cask #191 still produced 83 bottles. The recommended retail price of these bottles was a whopping 6000 GBP.

2) Balvenie still has its own floor maltings, but they can only produce a fraction (circa 15%) of all the malted barley that Balvenie needs to keep production going.

3) Do you know of any more trivial trivia about Balvenie?
Why don't you drop me a note so I can share it with the rest of the whisky world through this page?

Balvenie 10yo 'Founders Reserve' (40%, OB, Bottled +/- 1995, 70cl)
Nose: Wonderful bouquet. Honey! Minty? Somewhat dry with a hint of old raisins.
Taste: Sweet and smooth; gently flows through your mouth. Easily drinkable.
A very nice malt, but not quite as noble and complex as it's older brothers.
Score: 82 points - I could definitely recommend this to everybody.

Balvenie 10yo 'Founders Reserve' (40%, OB, Bottled +/- 2003, 70cl)
Nose: Creamy and sweetish. Spices. Christmas cookies? A narrow spectrum. Rich. Hint of peat?
It opens up with time. Did they perhaps increase the number of young casks in recent vattings?
Taste: Flat, Gritty start. A little thin. Definitely some brine in the centre. Tongue-coating.
Bittersweet burn. Sweetish, warm finish. It slowly recovers some points after a weak start.
Score: 77 points - above average but a few steps down from earlier batches from the 1990's.

Balvenie 12yo 'Doublewood' (40%, OB, Bottled +/- 1995, 70cl)
Nose: More sherry and old fruit than in the 10yo. Honey. Wonderful complexity.
The complexity grows even further after adding some water. A joyride for the nose.
Taste: Sherry. Nutty sweetness. Dark chocolate, Peppermint? Complex with great development.
Amazing balance. What a wonderful all-round single malt - I could drink this all evening.
Score: 86 points - highly recommendable. And the bottle is just so beautiful...

Balvenie 12yo 'Doublewood' (43%, OB, Bottled +/- 2001, 100cl)
Nose: Sweet and nutty start. Some sherry. A little alcoholic. Fruitier and woodier with time.
Seems just a little more restrained than I remember - less fresh sherry influences these days?
Taste: Fruity sweetness mixed with minty freshness. Intriguing sherry notes - plenty of them.
Very sweet, but different kinds of sweetness appearing one after another. Excellent.
Score: 85 points - still highly recommendable; it keeps in shape over the years.

Balvenie 12yo 'Doublewood' (43%, OB, Bottled +/- 2003, 70cl)
Nose: Aaaah.... Sherry and organics. Marzipan. Furniture polish. Wood. Still going strong...
Fruit sweets. Something spicy around the corner. Never a dull moment with the Doublewood.
Taste: Woody start. Sweet, full-bodied centre. Malty. Sherried. Spicy finish. I love this stuff.
Score: 86 points - unlike many other 'standards' of the 1990's it stays in tip-top shape.

Balvenie 1989 'PortWood' (40%, OB, Bottled +/- 2003, 70cl)
Nose: Wow! Rich and balanced. Fairly similar to the Doublewood, but not as expressive.
Marzipan. Lemon? Very nice, but I can't find the port. Nothing like the 'Morangie Port.
Taste: Smooth and sweet start. Solid, fruity centre. Coffee? Not very complex.
The finish grows slightly winey and woody - maybe that's the port influence?
Score: 83 points - a recommendable malt but I would have liked to see more port.

Balvenie 1991 'PortWood' (40%, OB, Bottled 2004)
Nose: Very fruity. More sweetness after a few seconds. Lovely sherried nose. Drops off fairly quickly, though
Taste: Oooh, that's a bit disappointing. Much weaker than I expected. Fruity centre. Faint hint of liquorice?
Score: 83 points - I adore the nose and even with a slightly unsatisfactory palate it makes it into the 80's.

Balvenie 15yo 1980/1996 'Single Barrel' (50,4%, OB, Cask #15986, Bottle #152)
Nose: Very soft, considering its strength (50.4%). This one needs just a little water.
Honeyish and woody; oilier and much lighter in character than the 12yo Doublewood.
Taste: Almost fruity at first, then a honeyish sweetness. Interesting development.
A peppery 'Allegro' followed by a never ending 'Adagio'. Best experienced neat.
Score: 84 points - recommendable, but I prefer the 12yo DW myself.

Balvenie 15yo 1985/2002 'Single Barrel' (50.4%, OB, Cask #286, Bottle #177)
Nose: Honey sweet. Spicy. Surprisingly light and fruity. Tangerines? Organics as well.
Smoked ham? Raw string beans? Lavender? A 'wider' profile than earlier batches.
Taste: Sweet and fruity - like fruit cake. Full bodied centre. Good mouth feel.
Pleasant prickle. A very long woody finish, maybe just a tad too woody for me.
Score: 83 points - quite different from an earlier cask, but just as lovely.

Balvenie 17yo 'Islay Cask' (43%, OB, serie of 94 casks, Bottled +/- 2001, 70cl)
Nose: Soft and sweet. Honey. Toffee. Something doesn't fit. It seems a bit restrained.
The Islay part doesn't show itself for a few minutes - and when it does it hardly 'screams'.
Taste: Rough. Unbalanced. Little depth. Solid centre. Very dry, especially in the finish.
Score: 76 points - decent, but I see no justification to pay 100 Euro's for a bottle.

Balvenie 21yo 'Port Wood' (40%, OB, Bottled 1997, 70cl) 
Nose: Oomph! Very rich; smells almost like a C/S at 40%. Pipe tobacco and incense?
Sweet, but less honeyed than the younger bottlings. Amazing complexity and development.
Taste: Round and full palate. Great mouth feel. I couldn't really detect the port here, though.
Very woody, and more so after breathing. Make sure to empty the bottle quickly after opening.
Score: 87 points - this has been my #1 Balvenie for over a decade. Fabulous stuff.

Balvenie 25yo 1974/2000 'Single Barrel' (46.9%, OB, Cask #15208, 70cl)
Nose: Wonderful perspective - very subtle. Sweet with late fruits and chocolate.
Balanced without supressing any of the individual elements. A malt to get lost in.
Taste: Very soft and accessible. Extremely fruity - maybe a tad too much. Long finish.
Score: 84 points - an interesting alternative perspective on Balvenie.
 

These were not all the (official and independent) expressions of Balvenie I've tried over the years.
My Track Record used to contain a complete overview of all the single malts I've tried, but when I passed the 2000 malts mark (and the list wouldn't fit on two separate HTML pages anymore) I gave up. My Liquid Log still contains my tasting notes on most malts I've sampled and scored - but finding notes on a specific expression could be tricky. You might want to use the search box at the top of this page for that. The mAlmanac now contains personal selections of the best and the worst single malts I've tried so far - as well as the ones with the highest 'Bang-For-Your-Buck' value.

But those are all just my own, purely personal opinions. On Serge's distillery profile on Whiskyfun you can find another perspective on the distillery. Check out the Malt Maniacs Monitor on Malt Maniacs for my scores on all expressions I've tried so far - and those of almost all the other certified malt maniacs as well. The Malt Maniacs Matrix contains a few thousand single malts that were sampled and scored by at least four different malt maniacs, so you can compare our individual opinions.
 
 

When the distillery was built in 1892 it was outfitted with second
hand still from Lagavulin and Glen Albyn. This might seem a bit odd
at first, but the use of second hand stills from other distilleries that
were demolished or refurbished is actually not that uncommon.
These days Balvenie has no less than eight stills (4 wash stills and
4 spirit stills); two of them were added in 1965 and one in 1971.