Balvenie Signature

Balvenie Signature is an older twelve year old expression from the Balvenie core range, released in numbered batches and built around a marriage of refill ex-Bourbon and first-fill ex-Sherry casks. The expression sits within the same period that produced the modern DoubleWood 12 but uses a different cask ratio under Malt Master David Stewart. This bottling was released in 2009 for the Dutch 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.

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 dried fruit, leathery, smokey and toasted.