Balmenach 14 Year Old SMWS Spirit of Speyside Special Release Tawny Garibadli Speyside Single Malt Scotch Whisky (2024) 70cl

Balmenach 14 Year Old SMWS Spirit of Speyside Special Release Tawny Garibadli Speyside Single Malt Scotch Whisky (2024) 70cl

1 of 881 bottles made

One of the best Balmenachs we have ever had! Refill & 1st Fill Bourbon & American Oak PX HHD

We walked through the deep, dark forest, stepping over moss-covered tree roots and groups of wood mushrooms. As the wind whispered through the dense evergreens, the aroma of steamed raisin pudding with a tawny port wine sauce emerged. We followed our noses and found a little gingerbread house with vanilla-based frosting, supported by tonka beans, cinnamon sticks and garibaldi biscuits.

When we added a couple of drops of water the scent of chocolate-coated dark red cherries flirting with nougat ice cream and PX raisins dominated, while on the palate we enjoyed blueberries freshly picked from the woodland. Bottled for the 2024 Spirit of Speyside Whisky Festival.

The Scotch Malt Whisky Society was founded in Edinburgh in 1983 by Phillip 'Pip' Hills who, while travelling around Scotland in the 1970s, fell in love with whiskies drawn straight from the cask. After he expanded his syndicate the Society was purchased by Glenmorangie PLC in 2004. In 2015, the Society was sold back to private investors. In June 2021, the private owners floated the holding company The Artisanal Spirits Company plc on the Alternative Investment Market of the London Stock Exchange.

It has a unique code system where the first number refers to the distillery and the second refers to the cask from which the bottle comes. SMWS also offers the largest range of distilleries of any independent bottler. These curiously named drams really do have something for every whisky lover!

The SMWS are one of the Britain's most revered independent bottlers with a worldwide network of partner bars with one mission of getting as much whisky at natural cask strength without water to different nations including USA, Canada, Switzerland, UK, Austria, Germany and many others.

These older labels from the first runs are mostly with distillation methods that include direct heat which was replaced with steam for many distilleries for environmental reasons changing the taste of whisky forever. It'll get real interesting when nuclear fusion is used to distil whisky. We might glow green for a few weeks after we drink the stuff. Who knows.... but all we know is that the old stuff has a musky taste that is VERY welcomed by people nowadays trying to time travel through whisky's past.

About Balmenach

Situated in the district of Cromdale on the banks of the River Spey the distillery stands in beneath the nearby hill of Tom Lethendry where the Jacobites were defeated in the Battle of Cromdale in 1690.

Balmenach Distillery is one of the earliest distilleries sanctioned as a result of the Excise Act 1823. In 1897 the distillery was purchased by Glenlivet and was served by its own railway branch off the Strathspey Railway until 1969. The distillery closed in 1941 and re-opened in 1947, following expansion of its facilities.

The Distillery is owned by Inver House Distillers Limited, a privately owned distiller whose other distilleries include: Speyburn-Glenlivet Distillery; Knockdhu Distillery; Balblair Distillery; and, Old Pulteney Distillery.

49.8% ABV

70cl