Balvenie 14 Years Old

Balvenie Caribbean Cask 14 is a permanent core range release matured for fourteen years in traditional ex-Bourbon casks before a finishing period in casks that previously held Caribbean rum. Malt Master David Stewart selected the rum casks personally for the project, with the finish bringing tropical fruit, vanilla and a soft sweetness over the honey and citrus character built up during the primary maturation. This bottling was released in 2014 at 43% 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-Rum cask previously held sugarcane spirit aged in tropical conditions, which accelerated extraction of oak vanillins and esters into the original rum and concentrated tropical fruit congeners. The Balvenie inherits a softened, sweetened cask with banana, pineapple and demerara character pulled forward from the residual rum. Typical tasting notes include chocolate, citric, coal-gas, cooked fruit, cooked mash and cooked vegetable.