Want to know about David Stewart and his role with Balvenie / William Grant and Sons? Read on….
If you’re an employer or in charge of Human Resources, you’ll be aware of the dynamic and shifting nature of your workforce in recent years. Being Generation X myself, it was drummed into me that you should show loyalty to your employer and stick around. We were constantly told by the Baby Boomer generation above us that “your CV will look more impressive and you’ll be rewarded if you’ve demonstrated that you stay at the one place for five to ten years.”
This is in stark contrast to the Gen Y and Millenial approach, where the thinking seems to be that a CV littered with multiple positions and experience gained across a many different roles and jobs is the more attractive pursuit.
So with that as context, what do we make of an employee who sticks with his boss for 54 years? What do we make of a role and a career that has outlasted many people’s lives, let alone most people’s professional undertakings? Such is the story and the appeal of Mr David Stewart of Balvenie.
David Stewart currently carries the title of “Malt Master” for Balvenie, but such a title obscures his true history and CV. Strictly speaking, his role and occupation is a blender, although in a whisky world fixated on single malts, blending isn’t the sexiest subject or pastime going around. And yet, what so many single malt drinkers overlook is the fact that even the single malts they enjoy and purchase require a blender to select and combine the contributing casks in such a way that the style and character of the expression in question remains consistent from batch to batch. The term “Master” gets thrown around a bit in the whisky industry these days (Master Distiller, Master Blender, Master Cooper, Master Tour Guide, Master Obi Wan, etc), but when you’ve been in the game for over 50 years, the title can certainly be justifiably applied. Though surely the title has never been bestowed on a more humble man.
David Stewart arrived in Australia this week (his first time down under) for a promotional tour for Balvenie. Amongst other tasting and media events, the true highlight for whisky aficionados were two special tasting events held with The Scotch Malt Whisky Society in Melbourne & Sydney respectively.
The Scotch Malt Whisky Society sees itself as a force for good within the industry, and whilst it’s been many years since the Society last bottled a cask of Balvenie (SMWS Cask 40.8 if you were curious!) that’s no reason not to team up with the good folks at William Grant & Sons and deliver a wonderful night of Balvenie drams whilst listening to David tell the story and inspiration behind each whisky.
Dr Sam Simmons, Balvenie’s Global Ambassador, joined David on this trip and in the evenings’ festivities and so, after the opening formalities by the Society host and some wonderful words by Sam (who, coincidentally, also worked for the SMWS from 2002-2008!), David took the microphone and led the room through a brief history of his career, followed by a tutored tasting of six Balvenie malts.
David’s story is a fascinating one: Leaving school at 17, he joined William Grant & Sons as a clerk. Two years later, an opportunity arose to become involved in the blending lab, which led to a 10 year “apprenticeship” until 1974 when he became the Master Blender for WG&S. The company’s portfolio meant that David was responsible for blending both the Glenfiddich & Balvenie single malt releases, as well as, obviously, the significantly larger range of Grants blends. Over the years came an expanding brand portfolio, new in-house distilleries to work with (Ladyburn, Kininvie, and Ailsa Bay), and requests from the marketing department to create new and exciting expressions. “Pioneering” is a word often associated with William Grant & Sons, and David demonstrated that ably in 1983 when he started the first experiments with finishing. (The practice of taking a whisky that had been maturing in one type of cask and then transferring it to a different cask to “finish” the maturation and the whisky).
In 2009, Brian Kinsman took over the role of Master Blender for Glenfiddich & Grants (as well as the many other spirits in the WG&S portfolio), leaving David to focus purely on Balvenie, and thus to assume his current role and title. And greater recognition was recently bestowed, with David being made a Member of the British Empire (MBE). Like many of his peers these days, his role also comes with the expectation of being a travelling brand ambassador, and so a number of weeks of the year are spent “on the road”.
And so what about the malts being featured on the night? The line-up featured four whiskies from Balvenie’s core range (the 12yo Double Wood, the 14yo Caribbean Cask, the 17yo Double Wood, and the 21yo Port Wood), followed by two very special cask samples drawn by David and featured specifically for the SMWS events. These were both 25yo cask samples from 1990; one being drawn from an American oak cask, the other from a sherry butt. (The 25yo sherry butt was remarkable not just for its depth & flavour, but also for its still-high ABV of 62.6%).
Many people enjoy a single malt without ever knowing the science or details of how the blender concocted the end result, and it was enlightening to hear David give the history, experience, and “recipe” behind each release. Such in-depth information can’t be repeated here in detail, but in very simple terms…
* The 12yo Double Wood spends 12 years in American oak before being finished in sherry casks for – on average – around nine months. (It can vary between eight to eleven months, but once the spirit chalks up six months in the sherry cask, David checks the casks monthly to make sure they don’t spend too long and to bottle them when they’re just right).
* The 14yo Carribean Cask spends 14 years in American oak before being transferred into rum casks for six months. (The rum casks are actually ex-bourbon casks that are seasoned with the rum for six months).
* The 17yo Double Wood follows pretty much the same regime as the 12yo Double Wood, albeit obviously with an extra five years in the first cask.
* The 21yo Port Wood is finished for just four months in ex-port pipes that previously held Tawny port.
It’s always a fantastic experience when the opportunity comes to taste a wide range from a distillery’s portfolio. Whilst they all share a common DNA, the different permutations of age, cask type, and maturation, etc, make for a fascinating exploration of flavour differentiation. It was a tough choice, but from the four in this particular line up, the 17yo Double Wood was my pick of the bunch.
As for the two 25yo cask samples, these were a true treat to the tastebuds. The sherry cask, it must be said, was clean, rich, and everything you’d hope for in a sherried dam – including a very high but well-behaved ABV! Not often one to veer away from an oloroso delight, I was surprised to find myself voting the ex-bourbon cask as the superior of the two. It offered unbelievable complexity, balance, and completeness.
And so, with some wonderful whiskies under our belts and the pleasure of having been educated by, arguably, the most respected and admired blender of our time, we retreated into the night. The only thing missing from the evening was that next elusive SMWS cask of Balvenie. You’ll be pleased to know I asked David to consider sourcing Cask 40.9…
Cheers,
AD
Distillery photographs by Whisky & Wisdom. Photographs from the SMWS event in Sydney by The Whisky Ledger.
So I wanted to save my commentary until after I experienced a Balvenie event for myself. Now that I have, and wrote about it, it’s with confidence that I can say that I fully endorse your views on their range. Though I haven’t had the pleasure of meeting David yet, I did meet with the new US East Coast Ambassador and enjoyed the event fully. Oddly enough, as I state in my review, I preferred the 12 to the 17. Not sure if I just liked the bigger punch, or what. But the 17 is definitely delicious in an of itself.
Cheers! – Peat