The Balvenie is a Speyside distillery situated in Dufftown, the self-styled “Whisky Capital of the World”. Dufftown lies on the river Fiddich and has five other active distilleries in addition to Balvenie: Mortlach, Glendullan, Dufftown, Kininvie and Glenfiddich. William Grant, Balvenie’s founder, learned his distilling craft at Mortlach before breaking ground for the new distillery in the shadow of the ruins of Balvenie castle. The distillery is still in the ownership of the family company, William Grant & Sons, whose portfolio also includes Glenfiddich, Grant’s, Monkey Shoulder, Tullamore Dew and Hendrick’s Gin.

Balvenie was built some time after Glenfiddich in order to balance the flavour profile of the hugely successful range of blends sold at the time. Balvenie and Glenfiddich single malts only became generally available in the 70’s and both gained instant recognition as world leaders. In 1990 William Grant & Sons opened a new distillery, Kininvie, to service their blends and thus allow the output of both Balvenie and Glenfiddich to go almost exclusively into single malts. Balvenie now has eight stills and produces an impressive 5.6 million litres per year. To put this in context, Ardbeg has a capacity of 1 million, Laphroaig 2.7 million, Macallan 8 million and Glenfiddich 10 million. Balvenie is also unusual in that it still has its own floor maltings, although it can only produce a fraction of the malted barley they need to meet demand.

You will never see an independent bottling of Balvenie or Glenfiddich. William Grant protects its brands, so if it does sell its whisky to a third party, it puts in a tiny amount of another malt; ‘Burnside’ is Balvenie with a touch of Glenfiddich and ‘Wardhead’ is the name for Glenfiddich with a dash of Balvenie.

The taste profile is classic Speyside; fruits and honey abound with sherry and spice mingling in. Its standard range is Signature 12 year old, Doublewood 12 year old, Single Barrel 15 year old, the Portwood 21 year old and the 30 year old. It has recently experimented with finishes, including a rum and Islay cask finish. We bring you three of the standard expressions plus a discontinued old favorite and the special release 1993 Portwood.

The Founder’s Reserve was introduced as the standard Balvenie expression in the eighties but was recently replaced by the Signature 12 year old. It is a combination of bourbon and sherry cask matured whisky. This whisky is hard to find now, and we think it very interesting to compare it to current expressions. It goes for about £ 40 on ebay

Tasting notes:
Nose: Initially a faint hint of tea. Tangerines and oranges. Dried fruit peel. Liquorice sticks. Light oak.
Palate:Lightly sherried. Soft, rounded. Spiced oranges and cream. The oak adds a little spice but isn't allowed to dominate. Superbly balanced.

Like the Founder’s, the Signature is a marriage of bourbon and sherry matured whisky. It is made in small batches and each batch is allowed time to harmonise in a traditional marrying tun. The Balvenie master distiller David Stewart crafted this to mark his 45th year in the whisky industry. Signature can be bought from specialist outlets for Around £ 34.

Tasting notes:
Nose: Coffee ice cream, sweet honey and cream with a light richness with a definite hint of citrus peel. Oak and tropical fruits sit in the background.
Palate: The oak comes straight in but keeps its distance, allowing the creamy vanilla and the biscuity malt to have their say. Light citrus returns at the end.

Like the Signature, the Doublewood is a 12 year old whisky that combines the flavours of whisky matured in bourbon and sherry casks. Unlike the Signature, which marries the whisky aged independently, the Doublewood is a sherry finish; the whisky spends the final few months in sherry casks prior to bottling. Widely available for around £26-£32.

Tasting notes:
Nose: Much lighter than expected. Oranges. Spicy and lightly charred Dundee cake.
Palate: Light sherry, with lighter vanillas soon becoming apparent, as is a light nuttiness and the juicy Seville oranges which becomes slightly bitter at the end.

The Single Barrel is a 15 year-old single malt matured in a bourbon cask. Each bottling forms a limited edition of no more than 350 hand-numbered bottles - so each bottle is unique and unrepeatable. It costs around £ 50 from outlets such as the whisky exchange.

Tasting notes:
Nose: one of the sweetest and most fruity noses of any malt, bursting with exotic fruits in syrup.
Palate: hedonism in a glass, with vanilla drenched candies, tinned peach and pear, a tinned fruit dessert in a glass.
Finish: more of the same. A one hit wonder of a whisky. But what a wonderful one hit!

This was third in a series of special release port finishes in 1989, 1991 and 1993 that were precursors to the Portwood that is now part of the core range. This is a 12 year old whisky finished in port pipes. It is worthwhile contrasting this to the Signature and the Doublewood; all 12 year old whiskies, but the last two with finishes in sherry. There is an obvious similar core taste, but there are clear differences. The Doublewood is light and sweet, the Portwood more richly fruit cake sweet. The portwood 1993 is not widely available, but you can pick it up on ebay for £ 80-£ 100

Tasting notes:
Nose: Rich tea biscuit and strawberry jam. Sugared fruit and soft, dusty oak.
Palate: Fruit pastilles. A sheen of oak wrapped round soft red fruit with the port rounding everything off beautifully.