Whiskey Review: Balvenie DoubleWood 12 Year Old

s. The distillery is one of only six distilleries in Scotland that still operates their own malting floor and malt kiln. They can only produce, however, about 10% to 15% of their malt needs. The balance is sourced from commercial malt suppliers. The kiln uses a combination of coal and peat to dry the malted barley, imparting a very slight smoky note to the resulting whisky. Preference is given to locally produced barley. Balvenie operates eleven stills—six wash stills and five spirit stills—and has an annual capacity of 5.6 million liters of pure alcohol. The Balvenie was among the first whisky producers to experiment with “finishing” malt whisky in casks that had previously held other liquids, including port, sherry, Madeira, and a variety of rum casks from Cuba and elsewhere in the Caribbean. The DoubleWood range features whiskies that have been aged in first- or second fill ex-bourbon casks for approximately 11 years, and then finished in a first-fill Oloroso sherry cask for up to a year. Another interesting feature of the Balvenie distillery is that it is adjacent to the larger and better-known Glenfiddich distillery. In fact they are “siblings,” as both are owned by Grant. Each distillery uses the same water source, the crystal clear Robbie Dhu Spring in the Conval Hills, yet they produce completely different whiskies. Tasting Notes: The Balvenie DoubleWood 12 Year Old has a light mahogany, amber color. On the nose there are pronounced floral aromas of heather and white flowers, followed by aromas of dried apricot and nectarine. There is a distinctive, sweetish, honeyed note with wood spice and vanilla as well as slight notes of wood wax/furniture polish in the background, with just a hint of peat smoke. On the