Not the name of a valley or river the name of grocer George Ballantine.
The merchant's sense of mixing tea shifted to the skill of selecting and mixing aged whisky.
17 years is not the average age of original actors. This means that even the youngest malt or grain in the bottle spent 17 years in oak barrels.
Malt and grain are only considered candidates after spending at least 17 years in their respective casks. During long maturation, the harshness of the alcohol is reduced and the woody scent is fully penetrated.
Honey, fruit, flowers, oak and light smoke are selected from malts from various regions. Rather than expecting all the flavors to come from one distillery, we collect spirits that are different in what we are good at.
Long-term aged grain whisky adds creamy vanilla and light sweetness. It also serves to connect the strong-smelling malts so that they are not felt separately.
Peat is not the main character; it adds depth behind the honey and vanilla. The official notes likewise present smoke as a subtle supporting layer.
The blender checks the flavor and strength of each cask and sets the ratio according to Ballantine's standards. Even if there is a lot of old spirit, balance does not automatically occur.
Oak and spicy licorice provide structure, leaving a sweet and soft aftertaste at the end. It is a taste created by selection and combination rather than by any single distiller.
Based on Ballantine’s 17 Year Old.
Malt, flowers, vanilla, and citrus stand in similar lengths and are supported by oak.
The peat axis is short but not absent. Smoke adds depth behind the sweet centre.
It is not an undisclosed mixing ratio, but a value that translates the sensory impression of the reference bottling to the same six axes.
George Ballantine opened a grocery store in Edinburgh in 1827. He began to personally select and blend whiskys of varying quality, and his family's last name soon became the name of the blend.
17 Year Old was created by master blender George Robertson in 1937. The brand introduces this as the world's first 17-year-aged scotch. The number refers to the maturation period of the youngest spirit, not the oldest spirit.
Ballantine's coat of arms depicts barley, water, fire, and air. Although the taste of a blend is difficult to describe in terms of the structure of a single distillery, it is accurate to say that it combines four different elements of production into one style at the end.
The apostrophe in Ballantine’s indicates ownership by the founding family. It is not included in the Scottish place name dictionary.