The Balvenie Single Malt Scotch Whisky The Balvenie is a unique range of single malts created by David Stewart, The Balvenie Malt Master and longest-serving Malt Master in the industry. Each has a very individual taste, but each is rich, luxuriously smooth and underpinned by the distinctively honeyed character of The Balvenie. Produced in Speyside in the Scottish Highlands, the exceptional quality of The Balvenie Single Malt is due to the fact that The Balvenie Distillery retains and nurtures a high level of craftsmanship that other malt whisky producers no longer employ: nowhere else will you find a distillery that still grows its own barley, still malts in its own traditional floor maltings, still employs coopers to tend all the casks and a coppersmith to maintain the stills. Today the Balvenie Distillery produces a multi award-winning range of The Balvenie Single Malts, which includes The Balvenie DoubleWood 12 Year Old, The Balvenie Signature 12 Year Old, The Balvenie Single Barrel 15 Year Old, The Balvenie PortWood 21 Year Old and The Balvenie Thirty. A limited edition and a rare vintage cask over 30 years old are also bottled each year. Our Award Winning Single Malt The Balvenie Malt Master, David Stewart, and his team of craftsmen are thrilled that their time honoured skills have been so highly rewarded. With over one hundred whisky awards in the last ten years, the world’s most acclaimed experts have recognised The Balvenie’s unique quality and range of tastes and the commitment to traditional malt whisky making, which sets us apart from other single malts. The longest-serving Malt Master in the industry, David Stewart personally developed the award- winning range of The Balvenie single malts. David joined William Grant & Sons in 1962 and this year he will reach his 50 year milestone as The Balvenie Malt Master. During his 50 years at William Grant & Sons, David has developed an award-winning range of single malts and blends which have earned him some of the industry’s top accolades and helped William Grant & Sons become Distiller of the Year an unprecedented seven times. Nominated an Icon of Whisky by Whisky Magazine in 2009, David has also received a lifetime achievement Award from Malt Advocate Magazine, the International Wine & Spirit Competition Outstanding Achievement in the Scotch Whisky Industry award and the Grand Prix of Gastronomy award from the British Academy of Gastronomes. Our Five Rare Crafts Every single malt in The Balvenie range is made using five rare crafts; ensuring each has its own complex character, whilst all share a distinctive honeyed taste. [rare craft one] OUR OWN BARLEY We still grow barley for our maltings on Balvenie Mains farm which adjoins the distillery [rare craft two] OUR OWN FLOOR MALTINGS Malting barley ourselves in the traditional way adds further complexity to The Balvenie’s distinctive taste [rare craft three] OUR OWN COPPERSMITH Our own coppersmith carefully maintains the copper stills that are so important in defining the sweet, honeyed character of The Balvenie [rare craft four] OUR OWN COOPERS Casks provide so much of The Balvenie’s flavour that we only entrust their preparation and maintenance to our own highly skilled coopers [rare craft five] OUR MALT MASTER Our expert Malt Master has crafted a range of individually complex single malts that all share a distinctive honeyed character DAVID STEWART MALT MASTER WILLIAM GRANT & SONS LTD • The longest-serving malt master in the industry – 50 years at William Grant & Sons • Pioneering Malt Master of Glenfiddich and Master Blender of Grant’s Scotch whisky until 2009. • Award-winning Malt Master of The Balvenie Single Malt Scotch Whiskies. orn in Ayr on the west coast of Scotland in 1945, David Stewart started work at William Grant & Sons as an apprentice in 1962, the year before Single Malt Scotch Whisky was first officially exported to BEngland, when Glenfiddich became the first single malt to be enjoyed outside Scotland. Following a 12 year apprenticeship at the independent family distillers learning the skills of nosing and blending the best quality Scotch whisky, David was appointed Malt Master of William Grant & Sons in 1974; a position he has held ever since, making him the longest-serving malt master of any distillers in the industry. During his 50 years at William Grant & Sons, David has developed an award-winning range of single malts and blends which have earned him some of the industry’s top accolades and helped the independent William Grant & Sons become Distiller of the Year an unprecedented five times by the International Spirits Challenge (ISC), four times by the International Wine and Spirit Competition (IWSC) and for the first time by the World Whiskies Awards in 2011. His key achievements include the development of two cask maturation in the 1980s, unheard of at the time, but these days an established technique referred to as ‘finishing’ and widely enjoyed as The Balvenie DoubleWood 12 Year Old. David’s introduction of Glenfiddich Solera Reserve 15 Year Old, was also the first and only single malt to use the innovative Solera maturation process. Yes, the 1980s was a particularly interesting time when I was experimenting with maturing The Balvenie in more than one type of cask. To take spirit out of American Oak and put it into a sherry cask not long before bottling, as I did with The Balvenie Classic, was pretty much As master blender at William Grant & Sons, he developed the world’s first blends to be finished in Ale and Sherry Casks, with the introduction of Grant’s Ale Cask Reserve and Sherry Cask Reserve. His passion for the art of blending also helped Grant’s Family Reserve, the world’s third best-selling Scotch whisky, receive consistent international acclaim as one of the world’s best blends. David officially handed over the role of Glenfiddich Malt Master and Grant’s Master Blender to Brian Kinsman in 2009, after almost a decade working closely together. He firmly remains part of the William Grant & Sons family, however, dedicating his time to his Malt Master role at the company’s renowned Balvenie Distillery in Dufftown. David’s pioneering spirit and dedication to his craft, coupled with his modest, unassuming manner has made him one of the best-loved and respected craftsmen in the business. David lives outside Glasgow with his wife Ellen and has three children Heather, Colin and Alan and two grandchildren, Rory, three and Lily, one. An avid Ayr United football fan, David also finds the time to indulge in curling and a round of golf in his spare time. .