The Balvenie distillery has released a commemorative single cask in honor of its longest-serving malt master David Stewart
© The Balvenie
Honoring a 60-year-long tenure of the distillery’s malt master David Stewart, The Balvenie has launched a special edition expression - The Balvenie Sixty. Limited to only 71 pieces, the single malt is the brand’s oldest and rarest whisky to date.
Scottish distillery The Balvenie (William Grant & Sons) tapped its long-term collaborator Here Design for the conception of The Balvenie Sixty’s elaborate packaging. The distillery's release of a commemorative single cask bottling from 1962 is in honor of its longest-serving malt master, David Stewart.
The shape of the mouth-blown crystal decanter (Dartington Crystal) evokes the design cues of The Balvenie’s luxury range, echoing the contours of the stills at the distillery. The engravings on the decanter’s facing are hand filled with gold infill.
The decanter is decorated with gold infill and features a stopper plated in 24 carat gold ©The Balvenie
A heavy brass stopper (Zone Creations/Amorim) plated in 24-carat gold with a cork shank tops the decanter. The stopper not only serves its functional purpose, says the brand, but also tells a story via six hallmark markings on its rim. Symbols, each representing a significant event from Stewart’s six decades with The Balvenie, are hand engraved before being plated in gold.
Storytelling through glass
The bespoke tubular casing (Zone Creations) combines glass, gold and brass. Its interior is assembled from five separate layers of glass - one for each of the five decades spent at the distillery - inscribed with Stewart’s handwritten notes, with the sixth decade represented by the decanter itself. The notes are hand-applied decals on the glass layers. In order not to disrupt the glass panels while removing the decanter from its case, a bespoke circular opening mechanism (Zone Creations) was developed.
The case has five separate layers of glass inscribed with Stewart’s handwritten notes ©The Balvenie
A discreet drawer at the base of the case houses a brass certificate of authenticity and a nubuck leather-look booklet. "We wanted to create an artefact that represented the vast number of notes, memories, ideas and ultimately whiskies that have defined David’s remarkable career," explained Here Design Creative Partner Mark Paton.
The Balvenie Sixty is limited to just 71 bottles to be sold globally in 2023, priced at $145,000. From August 2023, one bottle will be available for purchase in travel retail in the following locations: Amsterdam Schiphol, Taipei Taoyuan, Dubai International Airport and Korea's Incheon International Airport.
A unique circular opening mechanism is fitted to the top of the case ©The Balvenie
DecanterDartington Crystal
StopperZone Creations/Amorim
CaseZone Creations
Closing mechanismZone Creations
DesignHere Design
