The Balvenie Cask 191 up for sale in Canada

Posted on September 21, 2007
Filed Under WhiskyBuzz |

Transported by Brink’s truck and guarded by security, the most expensive bottle of The Balvenie Single Malt Scotch will be on sale at the LCBO in Toronto on September 19, 2007.

Whisky connoisseurs in Canada can purchase one of only two bottles, each retailing at $30,000. As the most expensive whisky ever purchased by the LCBO, the acquisition required reprogramming of purchasing software with capability for another digit!

Individually hand bottled, numbered, dated and sealed in wax, this rare vintage will be presented in a handcrafted cherry wood holding case.

What makes these bottles so rare?
They came from Cask 191, which was emptied and bottled on September 6, 2002 at The Balvenie Distillery in Dufftown, Scotland. The precious elixir had lain in the cask for fifty years.

Due to so-called ‘Angel Share’, which describes the loss of volume that occurs through evaporation during the aging process, a very small proportion of original spirits remained in the cask. This meant that only 83 bottles of the prized liquid were decanted, making Cask 191 the smallest release of The Balvenie ever. A cask of The Balvenie aged 10 to 20 years normally yieldsabout 250 bottles.

Ontario is on a list of only 15 places to receive allocation from Cask 191 making the LCBO the only retailer in Canada to offer this very special vintage of The Balvenie.

To mark the arrival of this rare vintage, the Global Brand Ambassador for The Balvenie, David Mair travelled from Scotland to Toronto to host the first ever Balvenie tasting and nosing. Only a select number of consumers will have the opportunity to meet David and see the rare vintage.

“The rarity of this vintage also comes from its rich heritage,” says David Mair, Global Brand Ambassador for The Balvenie. “Balvenie is the only single malt in Speyside that still grows its own barley, malts on a traditional malting floor, and retains its own team of craftsmen including coopers, a coppersmith and malt man. This makes a very distinct single malt with a delicious honeyed taste that runs throughout all of the different Balvenie whiskies we make.”

The Balvenie Cask 191 Single Malt Scotch whisky has a complex nose,intense with toffee, marzipan, sweet oak, raisins and nuts. The depth of flavour is astonishing, developing from butterscotch to clover honey, liquorice and chocolate, which are elegantly balanced with drying oak and spice.

Source: The Balvenie