How old is your Balvenie Single Barrel 15 y/o

[Matt2]

It's been noticed that some of the dates on bottles of Balvenie SB 15 don;t seem to match...

Bottle No 65
Cask 8242
In Cask 17/05/1990
In Bottle 08/02/2008

17 Years old...

[Ganga]

I'd like to note that the miniatures do not allow you to compute an age. They just say 15 yo.

[woodhill]

15 Cask 11395 bot.16.02.06 dis 23.07.90 Bottle No 16.

[Willie JJ]

Cask 280: 10.01.90 - 18.02.05

That one is 15 then. I think I have another one somewhere but not sure where.

For info I'll repost this from the other thread:

'On the side of the label it says 'Matured at the Balvenie Distillery for at least 15 years'. So could be older then.'

Cheers

[TheTross]

Cask #3970, distilled 18/08/1988, bottled 28/08/2003. So 15 years old almost to the day.

[Deactivated Member]

I'd seriously hope nobody has to vote on the first three options.

[dylanf84]

In cask date:3/19/1992, bottled 9/6/2007. Cask #2772 bottle #65....so, 15 years 6 months pretty much.

[Wave]

Hehe, I'll say!

InCask date 23.7.81
Bottling Date 7.5.02
Cask # 5941 Bottle # 1
20yr old!!


Cheers!

[mikeymad]

I have 2 at 15, and one at 17yo...

I guess I got a deal on one

Cheers,

[Dubois]

Bottle N° 39
Cask N° 8423
In Cask Date 10.7.89
Bottling Date 28.10.04

Age= 15 Years

[matthew2512]

This is a huge variation. Perhaps i should have a look at the bottles in my liquor store and see if i can find a 17 or 20 year old... buy it

[OKDiver1]

Bottle No. 68
Cask No. 4603
In Cask Date: 26/05/1992
Bottling Date: 07/11/2007

[Jobi]

I just put in a vote for Younger than 13 years on a bottle I just opened. And I have to admit to being a little upset. I was hoodwinked. Bamboozled. In Cask 26/5/92. Bottled 8/11/04. Not fair!



...Then my wife pointed out the 04 could be an 07. On closer inspection I believe she is right. Call off the dogs.

[Deactivated Member]

I think I may have the oldest one so far in here:

Balvenie Single Barrel 15 years, O.B.,
Distilled 6.10.1980
Bottled 21.1.1996
Cask No. 88 13285
Litre 50.4 %

[fishboy]

Balvenie Single Barrel (47.8%)
cask filled 19.07.90
bottled 09.02.07
bottle number 91 from cask 1158
16 years old....

FB

[Apollo11]

Just bought a new one today:

Cask #21
In cask-Feb 1990
Bottled-Mar 2008

She is 18 years old, not bad!!!

Intresting cask # I thought.

[OKDiver1]

Just bought a new one today:

Cask #21
In cask-Feb 1990
Bottled-Mar 2008

She is 18 years old, not bad!!!

Intresting cask # I thought.

Excellent. One of the oldest so far.

[Whiskybembel]

I having:
CaskNo. 6318
07.06.89
29.06.04

so 15years old..

[Sir Dino]

Hi!

I've got 2 of them... One of my favorites...

1st bottle:
Bottle 53 from cask 5711, 47,8%
In cask: 18.10.1988
Bottled: 31.10.2003

2nd bottle:
Bottle 14 from cask 16167, 50,4%
In cask: 17.11.1980
Bottled: 25.04.2002
This bottle is 21Y, 5M

If you have some more dates, tell me! I'll collect these things...

Cheerio!
Thomas

[Ryguy]

Sir Dino, Welcome to the forums!!

[Sir Dino]

Welcome to the Forums Sir Dino and I hope you enjoy them!
That second bottle should be good then. Have you opened it yet?

No, I haven't. I've got this bottle some days ago at eBay. I was very surpriced to see the facts at the bottle...
From this moment I search to find out more about different batches of the Balvenie 15. At the moment I have facts from about 25 different bottlings.

Cheerio!
Thomas

[orangedogofglory]

Current bottles-

Bottle A:
In Cask: 29/01/90
In Bottle: 05/01/07
Cask 2017
Bottle 232


Bottle B:
In Cask: 14/02/91
In Bottle: 22/11/06
Cask 78
Bottle 210

Bottle C:
In Cask: 29/01/90
In Bottle: 19/01/04
Cask 2040
Bottle 128

A is 17 yrs, B is 15 going on 16 yrs, and C is 14 yrs.

BUT!!! Notice that Bottles A and C have the same In Cask date? Yet 3 years in between bottling.

[Bulkington]

So what's the explanation for these variations and for the apparent disparity between the ages and the age statement? It says 15 yo it should be 15 yo. What am I missing?

[Sir Dino]

Current bottles-

A is 17 yrs, B is 15 going on 16 yrs, and C is 14 yrs.

BUT!!! Notice that Bottles A and C have the same In Cask date? Yet 3 years in between bottling.

Curious! Bottle C did not be sold as 15Y...
Are you sure? No mistake? Maybe bad writing on the label? And the 4 is a 7 or 6?

Thank you!

[orangedogofglory]

I think Bulkington was getting at the bottles at 13 or 14 years old...

Altruistically I would hope that the <15yr bottlings were produced because David Stewart felt the casks reproduced the target quality/taste of the Balvenie 15, so they essentially "matured faster." Economically, it could be simply that they needed more and took some casks that were a few years off. I really doubt that though, since they have wide variations in when casks are bottled.

I'll drop a quick note to my friendly brand ambassador and see what the response is. It's something I've noticed but never really asked about.

[orangedogofglory]

Current bottles-

A is 17 yrs, B is 15 going on 16 yrs, and C is 14 yrs.

BUT!!! Notice that Bottles A and C have the same In Cask date? Yet 3 years in between bottling.

Curious! Bottle C did not be sold as 15Y...
Are you sure? No mistake? Maybe bad writing on the label? And the 4 is a 7 or 6?

Thank you!

Nope, no mistake. It is 14 years old, off from being 14 years old to the day by only 10 days.

[orangedogofglory]

may have egg on my face , I think I might have run into the same problem as Jobi, and the one Sir Dino mentioned.
The picture is below, judge for yourselves: 4 or 7?

DSC01865.jpg

[mikeymad]

Taking a look at the cask number, the '4' in the cask number looks pretty different than the '4' in the date. I would say the date is a '7'.

and just like that you have a whisky that is 3 years older.

Cheers,

[TheTross]

Looks like a 'y' to me, though I doubt that '19.1.0y' makes much sense...!

Nah, like mikeymad said looking at how different it is to the '4' in the cask number it's definitely '07', so you've got a 16yo Balvenie that's very nearly 17.

[orangedogofglory]

I heard back from a contact at Wm Grant & Sons and he seemed shocked that a <15 Balvenie 15 would make it through. I sent him the picture (haven't heard back on that) but I think its fair to say that its about 10 days shy of being 17 years old. I'll round up.

Anyways, to get back on track with the topic of the post, I have two 17s and a nearly 16.

[Jobi]

may have egg on my face , I think I might have run into the same problem as Jobi, and the one Sir Dino mentioned.
The picture is below, judge for yourselves: 4 or 7?

DSC01865.jpg

That is exactly what the "7" on my bottle looks like.

[Deactivated Member]

mine is...

bottling date - 28/03/2007
in cask date - 24/01/1991
cask number - 949
bottle no. - 122

[orangedogofglory]

may have egg on my face , I think I might have run into the same problem as Jobi, and the one Sir Dino mentioned.
The picture is below, judge for yourselves: 4 or 7?

DSC01865.jpg

That is exactly what the "7" on my bottle looks like.

Yeah, embarrassingly enough my picture was forwarded on to a kind gent at the distillery who informed me that it is certainly a 7. I don't think I could overuse enough at this point - certainly hope I didn't come across in an accusatory manner.

Great dram anyways, and now I'm constantly checking the dates. I enjoy doing flights of the 17 finished malts with a 17 YO 15 YO... interesting way to compare traditional versus the finishes, although I still need to get my hands on the islay cask... or should i say a couple islay casks.

[Sir Dino]

I just put in a vote for Younger than 13 years on a bottle I just opened. And I have to admit to being a little upset. I was hoodwinked. Bamboozled. In Cask 26/5/92. Bottled 8/11/04. Not fair!



...Then my wife pointed out the 04 could be an 07. On closer inspection I believe she is right. Call off the dogs.

Hi Jobi!

Can I have the cask number?

[Muskrat Portage]

I've got one tucked away in the Lair, I shall mosey on down and take a gander...
...Lessee now...
Bottling date 24;04;03
In cask date 21;04;88
15 years 3 days old actually, signed by David Stewart.

Cask no 1810 bottle number 123

Muskrat Portage