Balvenie 30 yo Rare Marriages

Volume: 0.7 litres | Alcohol content: 44.2% | Chill filtration: Yes | Colouring: No

Special Features:

Balvenie 30 Year Old Rare Marriages brings together long-matured whiskies from American oak casks and European sherry casks. David C. Stewart MBE selected special casks from the distillery's older stocks for this purpose. The bottling therefore focuses on the interplay of different cask profiles rather than the character of a single cask.

Honeyed sweetness and gentle oak notes shape the nose, while dark chocolate and fruit add depth on the palate. This non-smoky single malt is 30 years old and bottled at 44.2%. The 0.7-litre bottle comes in cylindrical packaging.

Tasting Notes:

• Nose: On the nose, honey mingles with gentle oak notes. A subtle hint of candied orange peel complements the soft aromas.
• Palate: Rich dark chocolate takes centre stage on the palate. Delicate notes of plum, marzipan and caramelised pear accompany it.
• Finish: The finish is particularly soft and warming. Gentle spice accompanies the lingering sweetness.

Distillery/Bottler:

The Balvenie is situated in Dufftown in Scotland's Speyside region, immediately beside Glenfiddich. William Grant founded the distillery in 1892, and the first spirit flowed in May 1893. It belongs to the family-owned company William Grant & Sons.

Some of the barley is grown on the neighbouring Balvenie Mains farm. The distillery also operates its own floor maltings, where the germinating grain is turned by hand. These supply only part of its malt requirements. Coppersmiths look after the stills on site, while the distillery's own cooperage maintains the casks. Several important stages of production thus remain based at the distillery itself.

David C. Stewart MBE joined William Grant & Sons in 1962 and became Malt Master in 1974. His experiments with additional maturation in a different type of cask led to DoubleWood in 1993. Rare Marriages, by contrast, focuses on selecting and marrying long-matured whiskies. The range thus reveals another aspect of his work with the cask stocks.

Facts: