The Balvenie 25 Year Old Single Barrel Traditional Oak, was introduced to the Balvenie single malt Scotch whisky range in 2014. Released in batches, each bottle is one of no more than 300, drawn from a single cask, all of which are refill American oak casks. There will be slight variations between batches, but the casks selected by Malt Master David Stewart for this release are chosen for having the richly spiced, sweetly honeyed character you'd expect from 25 year old Balvenie single malt aged in American oak. This means there is an overarching consistency between batches.
The Balvenie Single Barrel Traditional Oak is characterised by subtle spices and rich honeyed sweetness and Malt Master David Stewart only selects casks of whisky for bottling that have the character he expects of Balvenie matured for 25 years exclusively in American oak.
However, no two casks will ever produce an identical single malt. As such, the single malt from each cask of Single Barrel Traditional Oak Aged 25 Years is unique and no more than 300 bottles will be filled from any one cask. This is reflected on the bottle label – hand numbered and carrying the distillation date, bottling date and cask number in which the whisky was matured.
The new Single Barrel Traditional Oak Aged 25 Years sits alongside two other Single Barrel whiskies: First Fill Aged 12 Years which is matured in barrels previously containing bourbon and Sherry Cask Aged 15 Years which is matured in European oak casks. These three single malts showcase Balvenie matured in the three main types of casks used at The Balvenie Distillery and provide whisky enthusiasts with a ‘straight-from-the-cask’ experience.
The Balvenie Single Barrel Traditional Oak Aged 25 Years is a non chill-filtered release with an ABV of 47.8%.