Spirits

Vintage: 1992

Region: Speyside

Bottled Year: 2022

Bottles: 198

A family-run independent bottler born in Los Angeles in 2019, The Perfect Fifth is dedicated to supplying malt enthusiasts in the USA with unparalleled fine Scotch from outstanding Scottish distilleries. Each of our whiskies is bottled from a single cask, hand-selected for quality to be bottled under The Perfect Fifth brand. We believe that whisky bottling is an art form that combines both quality spirit and arresting design.

From the distillery: Coming in at 35 PPM, the whisky has a sweeter style of smoke character owing to the mainland peat from St. Fergus used to kiln the barley. After a lengthy 160-hour fermentation, the whisky has a complex character which stands up well to ageing in virgin oak casks.

Nose: Smoldering oak embers, burnt liquorice and honey, with ginger, butterscotch and orange peel.

Taste: Cocoa, crème brûlée and toasted almonds, with cinnamon, aniseed and campfire smoke.

From the distillery: Made using mainland peat from St. Fergus, the sweet phenolic content of the whisky amounts to 35 PPM. A lengthy fermentation period of 160 hours results in a fruit-forward spirit that lends itself perfectly to ageing in the finest Sherry oak.

Nose: Cedarwood, cigar box, butterscotch and mocha, with orange peel, honey and plum jam.

Taste: Dark chocolate, smoked honey and mocha, with figs, treacle, burnt sugar and puffs of peat smoke.

From the distillery: ‘The Original’ is our classic single malt that truly champions our peated pursuit. Made with mainland peat from St. Fergus, the flavour contribution is sweeter than that anticipated of coastal peat.

NOSE: Baking spices, burnt honey and espresso, with hazelnuts, smoked almonds and butterscotch.

TASTE: Sweet peat, rich chocolate and heather honey, with cinnamon, ginger and oak-smoked sugar.

This 'teaspooned' whisky is for all intents and purposes mostly the beloved 1989 Balvenie with that tiny amount of Glenlivet added in order to declassify the cask

From the bottler: 

Distillers can be very protective of their hard-won malts, especially those who carry the most prestigious of names. From time to time, they must relinquish the hold on their casks, when one is sold to an independent bottler, for instance. Before spirit changes hands, the distiller - green-eyed and flush with passion - will take a single teaspoon of another distillery’s single malt, and add it to the spirit in the cask. Just a dash it takes, but that whisky can no longer bear the name its distillery of birth.

The distillery of origin is a darling of Dufftown, where nine stout stills produce a spirit rich in fruit and notably honeyed. Her sister, nestled close by in the Moray countryside, is where the ‘teaspoon’ of malt originated. Though nameless, together they are a powerful and stunning pair.

Independent bottlings of spirit distilled at the Balvenie distillery are rarely found on the market, and though the distillery is notable for having experimented with different cask types, this ex-bourbon cask allows the distillery character to sing finely and clearly, while accentuating the sweet vanilla and stone fruit character.