The Balvenie 12 Year Old Montilla Wine Cask Scotch Whisky
The Balvenie 12 Year Old Montilla Wine Cask Scotch Whisky is a limited-edition single cask from A Collection of Curious Casks, The Balvenie Stories range — a cask style the Dufftown distillery had never released before. Hand-selected by Malt Master Kelsey McKechnie, it spent its full 12 years in a European oak butt seasoned with the rich, sweet wine of Montilla in Andalusia, Spain, and was bottled non-chill-filtered at 47.3% ABV. Each bottle is drawn from a single cask distilled in 2012 and carries its individual cask number. It is available to order online at Del Mesa Liquor.
- ABV: 47.3%
- Size: 750mL
- Age: 12 Year Old — single cask, distilled 2012
- Type: Single Malt Scotch Whisky — Speyside
- Cask: European oak butt seasoned with sweet Montilla wine (Montilla-Moriles, Spain)
- Series: A Collection of Curious Casks — The Balvenie Stories, Story No. 10
- Filtration: Non chill filtered
The Story
A Collection of Curious Casks is where The Balvenie puts the spotlight on casks it does not normally use — unusual wood, hand-picked by Malt Master Kelsey McKechnie, The Balvenie's sixth Malt Master, working with Samples Coordinator George Paterson. Montilla, from the Montilla-Moriles region south of Córdoba, is a traditional Spanish wine made predominantly from Pedro Ximénez grapes — a close cousin of sherry country, but its own world of sun-ripened sweetness. Seasoning a European oak butt with that wine and filling it with Balvenie spirit layers dried fruit, nuts, and candied sweetness over the distillery's signature honeyed malt. The label artwork by Andy Lovell shows McKechnie at work in Warehouse 24, and the tube carries the story of the cask. Compare it with the classic The Balvenie DoubleWood 12 Year Old and the Pineau-finished The Balvenie 16 Year Old French Oak, or explore the wider Scotch whisky shelves at Del Mesa.
Tasting Notes
The Balvenie's own notes: the nose is delicate, crisp, and refined, with vibrant barley sugar and runny honey balanced by toasted oak. The palate opens with an initial candied sweetness that develops into rich vanilla oakiness with warming spice and dried apricots, and the finish is a refreshing sweetness — the Montilla cask adding fruit, nuttiness, and gentle spice to the honeyed core.
How to Enjoy
Pour it neat in a tulip glass and give it a few minutes — the 47.3% strength carries the cask character beautifully. A few drops of water open up the dried apricot and barley sugar. A single-cask bottling like this is as much a collector's piece as a drinking whisky; once the cask is gone, it is gone.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is a Montilla wine cask?
Montilla is a traditional wine from Montilla-Moriles in Andalusia, Spain, made mainly from Pedro Ximénez grapes. Casks seasoned with its sweet wine pass dried-fruit richness, nuttiness, and candied sweetness into the whisky that matures in them.
Is this a single cask whisky?
Yes. Every bottle comes from one European oak butt, distilled in 2012, and the label carries that cask's individual number. Bottlings were made for different markets, so cask numbers vary.
Is it chill filtered?
No — it is bottled non-chill-filtered at 47.3% ABV to keep the full texture and flavor of the cask.
How is this different from The Balvenie DoubleWood 12 Year Old?
DoubleWood is the core-range 12 year old — a marriage of bourbon and sherry casks bottled at 40% ABV. This Montilla release is a single cask, fully matured in one Montilla wine-seasoned European oak butt and bottled non-chill-filtered at a higher 47.3% ABV, so the fruit, nuttiness, and spice sit further forward.
Order The Balvenie 12 Year Old Montilla Wine Cask Scotch Whisky online from Del Mesa Liquor in San Diego — a first-of-its-kind cask from one of Speyside's great distilleries.