Balvenie 30 Years Old

Balvenie Thirty is the long-aged single malt anchor of the Balvenie core range, matured for three decades in a combination of traditional European oak Oloroso sherry butts and American oak ex-Bourbon barrels. Bottled at 47.3% ABV, the expression captures the deep, layered character of long-aged Balvenie under David Stewart's selection. This bottling was released in 2004 for the European market.

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.

Ex-Bourbon American white oak (Quercus alba) was charred for the original bourbon fill, breaking down lignin into vanillin and syringaldehyde and releasing whisky lactones from the wood. The fresh-fill bourbon strips the most aggressive oak character, leaving the Balvenie spirit to draw on the secondary layers of soft oak, vanilla and coconut against the distillery's honeyed Speyside profile. Typical tasting notes include chocolate, honey, new wood, old wood, sherried and tobacco.