Balvenie 12 Years Old

Balvenie DoubleWood 12 is the cornerstone of the Balvenie core range and the whisky that established the modern category of wood finishing. Launched in 1993 by Malt Master David Stewart, the expression matures for twelve years in traditional refill American oak before transferring to first-fill Oloroso sherry butts for a further nine-month finish. The result is a twelve year old single malt with the soft vanilla and honey backbone of long ex-Bourbon ageing layered with the dried fruit, walnut and gentle spice of Oloroso oak. This bottling was released in 2023 for the German market at 40% ABV.

Balvenie was founded in 1892 by William Grant on the same Dufftown estate as Glenfiddich, and remains family owned by William Grant & Sons into its fifth generation. The distillery operates its own floor maltings (supplying around ten to fifteen per cent of its barley from the adjacent Balvenie Mains farm), runs an unusual setup of five wash stills feeding six spirit stills with the distinctive Balvenie Ball on the spirit still necks, and maintains an on-site cooperage.

The ex-Oloroso butt previously held a dry, oxidatively aged Spanish sherry, with the oxidation generating aldehyde compounds including sotolon, which carry walnut, dried fig and roasted nut character into the Balvenie. European oak (Quercus robur) is denser and more tannic than American white oak, contributing leather, polished wood and a darker structural backbone.