Glenlivet Honors Its 200th Anniversary With Its Oldest Ever Release

The Glenlivet, founded in 1824, is celebrating its 200th anniversary with the unveiling of its oldest whisky ever. The 55 year old The Glenlivet Eternal Collection, First Edition (42.2% ABV) has been matured for more than half a century, or about a quarter of the distillery's existence. There are only 100 bottles of this sherry cask-finished single malt available for sale, each priced at $55,000.

For Glenlivet cask master Kevin Balmforth, offering a whisky of this age was no sure thing. “One of the greatest challenges when putting together a whisky of this age is the oak,” Balmforth says. “It can overpower the fruits, and we're very conscious of that.”

But this 55 year old turned into a stunner—thanks not only to Balmforth’s deft hand in blending and finishing the selected casks, but also perhaps to some good fortune. “The stars aligned for this one a little bit,” he says. “It goes down to very fine details, the subtle differences in the composition of the casks themselves, the seasons it's gone through, the warehouse it was in, the cask’s location in that warehouse—which makes a huge difference—and many other factors you can't always control. If you could, of course, then every whisky that age would be amazing.”

About four or five years ago, Balmforth, along with director of blending Sandy Hyslop, began selecting a limited batch of ultra-aged casks, including bourbon barrels and sherry butts, tabbing them for this eventual 200th anniversary release. The task was to take those parcels, combine them, and turn them into something truly extraordinary and memorable. “We asked ourselves, how can we elevate this further?” he says.

The answer was in finishing the whisky in a sherry butt unlike any other on the planet—because Balmforth and his crew created a specific blend of sherry to season the cask, imparting the exact flavors and characteristics they were seeking. “We didn't want to use any ordinary sherry cask,” he says. “We wanted the perfect note to complement this 50 year old-plus whisky.”

The distillery team received a shipment of sample sherries from its partner bodega in Spain, and after much taste testing, settled on a specific ratio of oloroso, PX, and palo cortado before sending the blend back to Spain. “They conditioned the individual cask with the sherries that we selected and created it just for this release,” Balmforth says.

Once the seasoned cask arrived in Scotland, the team poured in the barrels earmarked for this project, and let it finish for more than two years. “It doesn't overpower the incredible intensity and richness that's already there,” Balmforth says. “It's more about adding subtle spice notes from the sherry casks to elevate it up another notch.”

Balmforth also points to flavors such as stewed pears, zesty orange, tropical fruits and toffee representing Glenlivet's house style, dark chocolate, and cinnamon and ginger spice—and from his taste memories, a touch of home in the form of mother's plum jam. “My mum has plum trees in the garden and she makes plum jam every year, it's got that going on,” he says.

This 55 year old comes presented in a sculpture made from jesmonite with rose-gold plating designed by computational architect Michael Hansmeyer. The artist took his inspiration from the distillery's environs, including the flow of the River Livet, when modeling the design via computer programming. A special edition with a one-of-a-kind Hansmeyer sculpture will be auctioned in partnership with Sotheby's starting on October 18th, with proceeds benefiting the National Trust for Scotland.

The release is the first expression in a planned annual series. Each forthcoming edition will consist of stock from the same sherry cask the 55 year old was drawn from, aged for one further year until the liquid is all released. “We're hoping to get four releases from it,” Balmforth says. Each subsequent bottling will also be paired with an original work of art.

The lucky few who get their hands on the The Eternal Collection will try a Glenlivet the likes of which they’ve never imagined. "[This whisky is] absolutely the pinnacle of my career making and tasting whiskies,” Balmforth says.