The Balvenie unveils its oldest whisky yet – an 88-year-old single malt from 1931
Just 17 bottles of the exceptionally rare whisky exist, with artist Daniel Arsham designing its sculptural presentation as part of The Balvenie’s new 1931 Collection.
The Balvenie unveils The 1931 Collection, comprising its oldest whisky yet – an 88-year-old single malt – and two limited-edition whiskies aged 12 and 15 years. (Photo: The Balvenie)
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One morning in 2019, The Balvenie Malt Master Kelsey McKechnie sampled a whisky she believed had reached perfection. By then, it had spent an extraordinary 88 years maturing in the distillery’s warehouse. She instructed that it be bottled and set aside for safekeeping.
Now, seven years later, The Balvenie is finally introducing it to the world as the oldest whisky in its history. Just 17 bottles exist.
“It is both inspiring and humbling to be the Malt Master to bring this precious liquid to the world,” McKechnie said in a statement.
The 88-year-old single malt headlines The 1931 Collection, named for the year in which the whisky was distilled. The collection also includes two other limited-edition expressions: a 12-year-old and a 15-year-old.
To mark the release, The Balvenie collaborated with artist Daniel Arsham on the presentation of all three whiskies. Known for exploring architecture, archaeology and the passage of time in his work, Arsham created designs that draw on the collection’s age an d the distillery’s heritage.
The collection makes its global debut on Sep 1 in Seoul, South Korea, in partnership with Frieze Seoul.
THE BALVENIE’S OLDEST WHISKY TO DATE
The year 1931 was significant not only because the 88-year-old whisky was distilled then, but also because The Balvenie opened its newly constructed Home Malt Floor.
Traditional floor malting remains part of The Balvenie’s whisky-making process and is one of what the distillery calls its Five Rare Crafts. The others are growing some of its own barley, maintaining an on-site cooperage, employing coppersmiths to tend its stills and relying on the judgement of its Malt Master.
The 88-year-old single malt surpasses the distillery’s previous record-holder, The Balvenie Sixty, a 60-year-old whisky selected by McKechnie to mark her predecessor David C Stewart’s 60 years with the distillery.
According to handwritten distillery records, cask No 239, a European oak sherry butt sourced from Jerez, Spain, was filled on Mar 5, 1931. Over the next 88 years, it was tended by generations of The Balvenie craftspeople and successive Malt Masters before McKechnie selected it for bottling in 2019.
McKechnie describes the whisky as “a sensorial experience evoking the serene silence of evergreen woods”. Her tasting notes pick out honey, mint leaf, buttery fudge, heather, bracken and worn leather on the nose, followed by aromatic oak, creamy toffee, honey and warming spice on the palate.
While McKechnie determined when the whisky was ready to leave its cask, Arsham was tasked with shaping how it would be presented. Known for transforming culturally significant objects into imagined relics, the New York-based artist was a fitting collaborator for a release that draws heavily on The Balvenie’s history.
The 88-year-old whisky sits at the centre of a sculptural form comprising eight flowing layers, each representing a decade of its maturation. Its fascia is made from hand-patinated bronze, referencing both the textures and colours of the distillery and the oxidation that develops naturally on copper over time.
The reverse comprises 88 symbolic layers of oak. At its centre is a physical piece of The Balvenie’s history: a copper disc made from one of the distillery’s decommissioned stills.
The whisky is housed in a hand-blown crystal decanter, engraved and gilded with 18-carat gold. Its distinctive rounded neck and shoulders form a silhouette known as “The Balvenie Ball”, echoing the shape of the distillery’s copper stills.
“At The Balvenie, I encountered a spirit that has been carefully shaped by generations of people who have protected and refined their craft, while remaining deeply connected to their origins,” Arsham said. “Much of my work explores time, material transformation and the histories that objects carry. This collaboration has brought these themes together naturally; I wanted to create something that feels both ancient and contemporary, to make the passage of time tangible.”
THE LIMITED-EDITION 12- AND 15-YEAR-OLD WHISKIES
The collection’s 12- and 15-year-old limited editions draw on elements of both the production and presentation of the 88-year-old whisky.
The 12-year-old is made entirely from home-malted barley. It was matured in American oak casks before being finished in ex-sherry European oak butts sourced from bodegas in Jerez, the same Spanish region from which cask No 239 originated. According to the distillery’s tasting notes, the whisky has notes of honey and delicate spice, followed by a rich, smooth finish.
The 15-year-old, meanwhile, is made with 100 per cent home-grown and home-malted barley. The distillery describes it as having rich, honeyed notes and a sweet, lingering finish.
Arsham’s presentation of the two limited editions draws directly from the sculpture created for the 88-year-old. On the exterior, green emerges through copper tones, echoing the verdigris patina of the sculpture’s eight layers. Inside, a textured copper-coloured surface references the metal used for the distillery’s stills.
A PARTNERSHIP WITH FRIEZE SEOUL
For the collection’s global debut in Seoul, The Balvenie partnered with Frieze Seoul to stage an immersive performance directed by Arsham.
Against a backdrop of barley grains inspired by the distillery’s Home Malt Floor, dancers move through eight fluid, meditative acts choreographed by Sukyung Yoo. A bespoke soundscape incorporates ambient recordings from The Balvenie distillery.
Further performances will take place at Space S50 in Seoul’s Seongdong district as part of the Frieze Week programme.
The Balvenie 1931 Collection 88-year-old is available to private clients and collectors. The Collection’s 15-year-old single malt scotch whisky is available from Sep, exclusively through global travel retail outlets, while the 1931 Collection 12-year-old single malt scotch whisky is available in selected markets.
Source: CNA/jk
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