Images of Dufftown 1992 MoS (Malts of Scotland)

A 27 year old Balvenie single malt released under an independent merchant. Independent Balvenie bottlings are rare given William Grant & Sons' historical reluctance to release casks beyond the distillery's own programme. This release was bottled by Malts of Scotland, the German independent founded by Thomas Ewers in 2009. Malts of Scotland selects and bottles single casks at natural cask strength without colouring or chill-filtration. The release was distilled in 1992 and bottled in 2019, drawn from cask #MoS 19031, with a small outturn of 255 bottles, for the Dutch market, at 53.2% 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 is one of only a handful in Scotland still operating its own floor maltings, supplying around ten to fifteen per cent of its barley from the adjacent Balvenie Mains farm. Production runs on a single lauter mash tun, a mixed wash back fleet of Douglas fir and stainless steel on 65 to 68 hour fermentations, and an unusual setup of five wash stills feeding six spirit stills. The spirit stills carry the distinctive Balvenie Ball, a bulb on the neck that increases reflux and pushes the new make toward the honeyed, ester-rich profile the distillery is known for.

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 fresh fruit, chocolate and fragant.