William Grant & Sons is introducing four bottles of The Balvenie Sixty – the distillery’s oldest and rarest whisky – into the travel retail channel, in celebration of Malt Master David C. Stewart MBE’s 60th anniversary.
According to the company, one bottle will be available to purchase at Amsterdam Schiphol, Taipei Taoyuan, Dubai International and Seoul Incheon International Airports. Only 71 bottles of this luxury limited edition have been released worldwide.
The Balvenie Sixty is a single cask bottling from 1962. It marks the anniversary of industry icon and renowned Malt Master David C. Stewart MBE, who celebrated six decades at the distillery in 2022, making him the longest serving Malt Master in industry history. The single cask selected to honor Stewart’s career was chosen by The Balvenie’s Malt Master Kelsey McKechnie, who has been mentored by Stewart.
The Balvenie Sixty will be celebrated and showcased via a series of distinctive activations at the four selected airport locations, live from July through to the end of August in Amsterdam, Taipei and Dubai. The Incheon event will take place later in the year.
In Amsterdam, consumers will have the chance to participate in a high-end auction for The Balvenie Sixty bottle, hosted in partnership with Schiphol Airport Retail. The highest bidder and winner of this location’s release will be announced in early September. For those not participating in the auction, the bottle will be displayed in the ExQuisite store throughout July and August on a plinth showcasing personal anecdotes from Stewart's career.
Martine De Lang, Deputy Managing Director of Schiphol Airport Retail, said, “We’re delighted to be partnering with William Grant & Sons to offer our customers this unique and very special opportunity to own a coveted bottle of The Balvenie Sixty. The auction creates added anticipation and excitement for travelers; the thrill of bidding and the allure of owning a ‘once-in-a-lifetime’ rare whisky gives us an amazing point-of-difference. It’s the perfect attraction to drive consumer footfall and we can’t wait for the build up to begin!
An impactful pop-up installation, designed to take travelers on a journey through the different decades of The Balvenie, is planned for Taipei Taoyuan Airport. This immersive activation connects historical bottles dating back to each decade of Stewart's career, with a ‘soundscape’ that features ambient sounds from the distillery
An audio guide narrated by Charles Metcalfe and Daniel Shen, The Balvenie Global and Taiwan Ambassadors respectively, will guide consumers through the history and heritage of the brand.
“The Balvenie Sixty is a landmark bottling that pays fitting tribute to David’s career at The Balvenie, and recognizes his incomparable contribution to the whisky industry at large,” said David Wilson, William Grant & Sons GTR Managing Director.
“The fact that we have made four bottles – out of just 71 worldwide – available to these four key airports, highlights the status and significance of the travel retail channel, and what a valued showcase it is for luxury releases such as this masterpiece. We are hugely excited to join forces with our valued retailer and airport authority partners to highlight this rare and special bottling to discerning whisky drinkers and new traveling consumers.”
