Balvenie Founder’s Reserve

Balvenie Founder's Reserve was the entry-level Balvenie expression discontinued around 2015 in favour of the modern DoubleWood. A ten year old single malt matured in a combination of ex-Bourbon and ex-Sherry casks, the expression represented the standard Balvenie house style under Malt Master David Stewart before wood finishing became the brand's signature approach. This bottling was released in 2000 for the European market 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.

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.