Balvenie - A Day Of Dark Barley 26 Year Old (750ml)

The Balvenie Stories Collection, launched in 2019, culminates with their bottling of A Day of Dark Barley. The name for this whiskey recalls the day in 1992 when mashman Brian Webster and maltman Robbie Gormley received their delivery of dark, Stout-roasted barley: a rare sight in the whiskey world. What is typically relegated to the world of Stouts and Porters, it turns out, also has the potential to make a miraculous single-malt whiskey if in the right hands. At 26 years, this bottling is not only the third of Balvenie's Stories, it is also the oldest.

By its roasting, this malt lends a deeper and different smokiness to the final product, complemented beautifully by its time undergoing maturity in first-fill Bourbon Oak barrels. Expansive and soft on the nose with pure malt, light brown sugar, ginger syrup, and wildflower blossom honey. All that roast and oak translates to a big, heavy palate that carries well its layers of flavor. An initial wave of oak-spiced toffee opens up into notes of clove-spiked orange peel, warm pain au chocolat, dried mango and apricot, with a blanket of mature vanilla, cinnamon bark, and warming ginger carrying through the finish. Uncomparable to any other style and singularly expressive, this is a treasure to enjoy slowly with close friends.