Distillery toasts single malt worth £6,000

A DISTILLERY yesterday released its oldest and rarest whisky.

The Balvenie Distillery, in Speyside, is to sell its 50-year-old single malt, the Balvenie Cask 191.

Only 83 bottles came from the cask when it was opened in September last year. Each are worth 6,000 and managers plan to sell them to buyers in Europe and the United States.

David Stewart, Balvenie’s malt master, said: "This is the first expression of the Balvenie to be released, having matured solely in a sherry cask.

"It has defied the trials of time by retaining both its alcoholic strength and character over such a long maturation period.

"With such a small number of bottles available, it is by far the most collectible expression of the Balvenie and we expect a lot of interest."

The Balvenie is regarded as one of Scotland’s finest single-malt Scotch whiskies and features a range of award-winning products.

According to Mr Stewart, who signs every bottle, the malt has a "complex nose, with an intense aroma of toffee, marzipan, sweet oak, raisins and nuts".

It also has an "astonishing depth of flavour, developing from butterscotch to clover honey, liquorice and chocolate, elegantly balanced with drying oak and spice."

The Balvenie Distillery grows its own barley and still employs coopers to tend the casks and a coppersmith to maintain the stills.

Containing the last Balvenie Single Malt Scotch Whisky from the 1950s, Cask 191 was laid down to mature in a single sherry cask on 26 January, 1952.

As whisky ages in the cask, it evaporates through the wood, becoming what is known as the angel’s share. In this case, this amounted to an amazing 77 per cent, or about 173 bottles.