Balvenie 25 Year Rare Marriages

Every Whisky in The Balvenie Single Malt Scotch Whisky range is unique: all are rich, luxuriously smooth, and underpinned by a distinctive honey character. The exceptional quality of The Balvenie Single Malt Scotch Whisky owes much to The Balvenie Malt Master, David Stewart, and the fact that the distillery maintains a high level of skill that other malt whisky producers cannot employ.

The Balvenie 25 Year Rare Marriages is the first in a new series of premium travel retail whiskies that will eventually also include 30 year old and 40 year old expressions. Right off the bat, I couldn’t help but wonder if this 25 Year release will mark the retirement of the 25 Year Triple Cask, a whisky that I think robs travel consumers of a quality product relative to its price tag thanks to its low bottling strength of 40% ABV. By comparison, the 25 Year Rare Marriage is bottled at 48% ABV, is non-chill filtered, and has no added caramel coloring. I knew that the whisky was comprised of both American and European oak but wasn’t sure what the proportions were. Once I saw how light the color was first-hand, I strongly suspected an emphasis on American oak.