Cover The Balvenie 1931 Collection makes its global debut in Seoul, bringing nearly nine decades of whisky-making craft into a conversation with contemporary art (Photo: Grant Anderson / www.grantanderson.me / @grantandersondotme)
The Balvenie 1931 Collection makes its global debut in Seoul, bringing nearly nine decades of whisky-making craft into a conversation with contemporary art (Photo: Grant Anderson / www.grantanderson.me / @grantandersondotme)
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Nearly nine decades after a cask was filled at The Balvenie’s Speyside distillery, the whisky within became the oldest release in its history. Now at the heart of The 1931 Collection, the 88-year-old single malt is joined by two limited-edition expressions in a story of craftsmanship, time and transformation
The collection made its global debut in Seoul, where The Balvenie brought whisky, art, movement and sound together for an experience that traced the making of its whisky from barley to bottle.
During our time in Seoul, it rained almost constantly. Against the grey skies and wet streets, there was something fitting about discovering a whisky that had itself spent decades waiting, resting, and changing with time.
Whisky, after all, is rarely experienced through tasting alone. There is the colour, the aroma that rises before its first sip, its texture on the palate and its warmth that lingers afterwards. In Seoul, The Balvenie took those familiar elements and expanded them into something we could see and hear, beginning with the very first ingredient: barley.
Above Daniel Arsham and The Balvenie Malt Master Kelsey McKechnie with the Eighty-Eight-Year-Old, collaborating two perspectives in time, craft, and creativity (Photo: Grant Anderson / www.grantanderson.me / @grantandersondotme)
Daniel Arsham and The Balvenie Malt Master Kelsey McKechnie with the Eighty-Eight-Year-Old, collaborating two perspectives in time, craft, and creativity (Photo: Grant Anderson / www.grantanderson.me / @grantandersondotme)
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The Whisky That Waited 88 Years
The story began on 5 March 1931, when The Balvenie filled European oak sherry butt cask #239 with whisky at its distillery in Speyside, Scotland. The whisky would spend the next 88 years maturing in the cask, under the care of successive generations of The Balvenie’s craftspeople and Malt Masters.
In 2019, Malt Master Kelsey McKechnie sampled the whisky and decided that it had reached the right point for bottling. It was bottled that year as The Balvenie’s oldest whisky ever, an Eighty-Eight-Year-Old Single Malt Scotch Whisky, of which only 17 bottles exist.
For McKechnie, the whisky represented something bigger than its age. She described it as a reminder of the patience behind The Balvenie’s approach to whisky-making, with generations of craftspeople looking after the same cask over nearly nine decades.
Above The Balvenie Malt Master, Kelsey McKechnie
The Balvenie Malt Master, Kelsey McKechnie
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Two Expressions, Two Ways to Experience The 1931 Collection
That remarkable whisky now sits at the centre of The 1931 Collection, alongside a Twelve-Year-Old and Fifteen-Year-Old. The name refers not only to the year cask #239 was filled, but also to a significant moment in The Balvenie’s own history: 1931 was the year its Home Malt Floor opened. The daily practice of malting barley by hand remains an important part of the distillery’s identity today.
The collection reflects The Balvenie’s Five Rare Crafts: home-grown barley, traditional floor malting, coopering, coppersmithing and the intuitive role of the Malt Master.
This approach is particularly evident in the barley. The 1931 Collection Twelve-Year-Old is crafted from 100% Home Malted Barley, while the Fifteen-Year-Old is made from 100% Home Grown and Home Malted Barley. Both are initially matured in American oak before being finished in ex-Sherry Bodega European oak butts from Jerez, the same region associated with the original 1931 cask.
It is an approach that places as much importance on what happens behind the bottle as what eventually goes into the glass. From growing and malting the barley to maintaining the casks and stills, each stage remains closely tied to the people and skills behind the whisky-making.
Above Barley is still turned by hand on The Balvenie’s Home Malt Floor, continuing a practice that dates back to 1931
Above An archival view of The Balvenie’s longstanding malting tradition
Barley is still turned by hand on The Balvenie’s Home Malt Floor, continuing a practice that dates back to 1931
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Above The Balvenie 1931 Collection brings together the Eighty-Eight-Year-Old, Fifteen-Year-Old and Twelve-Year-Old expressions
The Balvenie 1931 Collection brings together the Eighty-Eight-Year-Old, Fifteen-Year-Old and Twelve-Year-Old expressions
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Making Time Visible
In Seoul, the story of The 1931 Collection began with barley. A field of grain covered the floor as performers moved through it with long wooden tools, drawing from the repetitive, hands-on work of The Balvenie’s traditional Home Malting Floor. The performance, Dawn of Our Spirit, directed by Daniel Arsham, translated the process of malting into movement and sound.
The same idea continued in Arsham’s sculpture for the Eighty-Eight-Year-Old whisky. Eight flowing layers represent its eight decades of maturation, while 88 layers of oak appear on the reverse. At its centre is a copper disc made from a decommissioned distillery still.
For Arsham, the connection between whisky-making and art comes down to a shared process of transformation. “Making whiskey and making art, there’s both kind of alchemy about it. We’re transforming one thing into another. There’s a lot of attention to detail and experience around everything,” he said. “You know, I tried to pull out materials that were present that I saw during my visits at The Balvenie, the copper from the stills, the oak from the barrels, and create a kind of universe around the 88.”
Above Dancers perform Dawn of Our Spirit, an immersive work directed by Daniel Arsham and inspired by the ritual of turning barley on The Balvenie’s traditional malting floor
Above Daniel Arsham on translating nearly nine decades of whisky-making into a contemporary artistic language (Photo: Grant Anderson / www.grantanderson.me / @grantandersondotme)
Dancers perform Dawn of Our Spirit, an immersive work directed by Daniel Arsham and inspired by the ritual of turning barley on The Balvenie’s traditional malting floor
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Above Photo: Grant Anderson / www.grantanderson.me / @grantandersondotme
Photo: Grant Anderson / www.grantanderson.me / @grantandersondotme
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Making whiskey and making art, there’s both kind of alchemy about it
From Craft to the Glass
The experience eventually led back to the whisky itself. At the centre was the Eighty-Eight-Year-Old Single Malt Scotch Whisky, presented in a hand-blown crystal decanter within Arsham’s sculptural interpretation of its 88-year journey.
For McKechnie, the relationship between the whisky and Arsham’s work was equally clear. “I definitely see so many connections between the art of whiskey making and the connections between all of Daniel’s work,” she said. “We’ve been so fortunate to work together on the production of the pack and the sculpture and of course he’s been keeping in touch with us on the liquid. So there are so many synergies and how the 88 has really come to freshen and in production of the sculpture.”
Seeing the barley, the copper, the oak and finally the whisky in the glass brought the story together: nearly nine decades of work, distilled into a single pour.
Above Daniel Arsham’s sculptural interpretation of The Balvenie’s Eighty-Eight-Year-Old whisky (Photo: Grant Anderson / www.grantanderson.me / @grantandersondotme)
Daniel Arsham’s sculptural interpretation of The Balvenie’s Eighty-Eight-Year-Old whisky (Photo: Grant Anderson / www.grantanderson.me / @grantandersondotme)
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Above Eight flowing layers and 88 rings of oak reflect the whisky’s journey through eight decades of maturation
Eight flowing layers and 88 rings of oak reflect the whisky’s journey through eight decades of maturation
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On a rainy Seoul evening, it was a reminder that whisky is something to take your time with. You look at it, smell it, taste it, feel it and, ideally, give it enough time to linger.
The 1931 Collection
The Balvenie 1931 Collection Twelve-Year-Old is available in limited quantities across Southeast Asia through The Distillers Library, which offers private clients in the region access to ultra-rare whiskies from the Grant family archives.
The Collection’s Fifteen-Year-Old Single Malt Scotch Whisky is available from September 2026, exclusively through global travel retail outlets.
