The Balvenie unveils its oldest whisky yet, an 88-year-old single malt from 1931

The Balvenie is releasing an 88-year-old single malt distilled in 1931, with just 17 bottles available. The whisky spent 88 years maturing in the distillery’s warehouse before Malt Master Kelsey McKechnie selected it for bottling.

McKechnie first sampled the whisky in 2019 and judged it to have reached perfection. Seven years later, the distillery is presenting it publicly as the oldest whisky in its history. “It is both inspiring and humbling to be the Malt Master to bring this precious liquid to the world,” she said in a statement.

The whisky headlines The 1931 Collection, which also features limited-edition 12-year-old and 15-year-old expressions. The collection takes its name from the year the oldest whisky was distilled.

The Balvenie worked with New York-based artist Daniel Arsham on the presentation of all three bottles. His designs draw on the collection’s age and the distillery’s heritage, reflecting his work with architecture, archaeology and the passage of time.

The global debut is scheduled for Sept. 1 in Seoul, in partnership with Frieze Seoul. The year 1931 also marked the opening of The Balvenie’s newly built Home Malt Floor, where the distillery continued its traditional floor-malting process. The 88-year-old whisky surpasses the previous record-holder, The Balvenie Sixty, a 60-year-old whisky selected to mark former Malt Master David C. Stewart’s 60 years with the distillery.

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It is both inspiring and humbling to be the Malt Master to bring this precious liquid to the world.