[Dixielandjazz] £6,000 bottle of single malt

[Nancy Giffin]

Musical content: "Nice [Malt] if You Can Get It"

Thu 9 Jan 2003

DISTILLERY TOASTS SINGLE MALT WORTH £6,000
by John Innes 

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, Balvenie¹s 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 Scotland¹s 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 angel¹s share. In this case, this amounted to an amazing 77 per
cent, or about 173 bottles.

http://www.thescotsman.co.uk/inverness.cfm?id=25912003