Balvenie Week of Peat 14 Year Single Malt 48.3%

Balvenie Week of Peat 14 Year Single Malt 48.3%

Balvenie Week of Peat 14 years is from peat week, where there is eager experimentation with The Balvenie profile For one week a year, when a portion of peat smoked malt is distilled.

Scent: Gentle sweet peat smoke, lighter floral notes and delicate butterscotch honey.

Taste: Velvety and round in taste with peat smoke that balances citrus flavors, oak, vanilla and floral honey.

Aftertaste: Gentle smoke with a lingering and creamy vanilla sweetness.

Experiment with smoke:

Using what he had learned from a trip to Islay, head distiller Ian Millar commissioned a batch of Speyside peat for the kiln. For one week a year, The Balvenie distills a batch of peated malt, resulting in a whiskey rich in honey, vanilla and citrus notes with an extra layer of delicate smokiness.
They got their peat from the north east Speyside village of New Pitsligo, close to Fraserburgh. Lan Miller helped muck with the guys in the malting, mixing the extra heavy peat into the kiln with big shovels. They added a peat burner to the side of the stove. Testing the burner in the early days made it possible. Getting levels similar to Laphroaig and Ardbeg, 30ppm phenolics. It was clear that the more they tried, the greater their confidence in peating their own malted barley.

“The first time they did it, there was a real buzz on the site – engineers, coppersmiths and other team members came to have a look, as they had never seen the production of peated, malted barley before.

Maltmaster David C. Stevart:

Throughout his long career as malt master, David C. Stewart MBE has been an integral part of the evolving essence of The Balvenie. Balvenie DCS Compendium Chapter One celebrates this essence by focusing on the sweet and honeyed character of the whiskey and how this distillery style evolves over time. The rare whiskeys range in age from nine years old, the youngest single cask whiskey The Balvenie has ever released to date. To 46 years old, to demonstrate how The Balvenie's distillery character develops at different ages over time.

Way back to 1892 when William Grant built The Balvenie Distillery in the derelict Balvenie New House. 1893 Whiskey production begins at the distillery on 1 May. In 1971, the first official bottling of The Balvenie single malt whiskey was released.