This is an estimated arrival timeline. Timing can shift due to carrier schedules, port congestion, customs, or warehouse receiving.
THE 1989 DUO: BURNADJACENT & BALVE'DDICH
In 1989, spirit ran off the stills at a certain famous distillery in Dufftown, and a spoonful of a neighbour was stirred into the casks so nobody could bottle it under the big name. Thirty-six years later, that 1989 teaspooned malt has surfaced twice in the same summer: once as Little Brown Dog's Burnadjacent, matured full term in a quiet refill hogshead, and once as our own Whispering Waters Balve'ddich, finished in a first fill Pedro Ximénez cask. Same distillery. Same vintage. Same 36 years. Two completely different fates.
This set exists in almost impossible numbers: only 12 bottles of the Burnadjacent are coming to the United States, and the Balve'ddich ran to just 163 bottles worldwide. Twelve matched pairs. That is the entire run, ever.
Bottle one: Little Brown Dog, Burnadjacent 1989
- Filled 15 November 1989, bottled 27 July 2026 at 36 years from a single refill hogshead. 47.6%, natural colour, non chill filtered. 321 bottles worldwide, 12 in the US.
- Pure time-and-oak maturation: refill wood that never overtakes the spirit, letting three and a half decades build what LBD calls that tropically magical old-malt character. Kiwi, mandarin, peach ice tea, pecan pie.
- The name is LBD's answer to the teaspoon game: bulk Balvenie in wood is traded as Burnside, but Burnside in glass is trademarked, so Burnadjacent it is. In their words: "We await the letter."
Bottle two: Whispering Waters, Balve'ddich 36
- The Whiskey Lab's house brand take on the same 1989 stock: 36 years old, lifted by a first fill Pedro Ximénez finish. 51.7%, natural colour, non chill filtered.
- Just 163 bottles worldwide, each hand-numbered.
- Where the Burnadjacent shows what time alone does, the Balve'ddich shows what a rich PX cask adds on top: the dark, sweet layer draped over the same ancient tropical core.
Why a set
This is the kind of comparison usually reserved for blenders' sample rooms: one 1989 spirit, two cask endings. Ex-bourbon patience against Pedro Ximénez opulence, poured side by side from bottles born in the same year. With 12 sets in existence, it is also the rarest thing The Whiskey Lab has ever offered.
One set contains one 700ml bottle of each release.
| Specification | Little Brown Dog Burnadjacent | Whispering Waters Balve'ddich |
|---|---|---|
| Style | Blended malt Scotch (teaspooned) | Blended malt Scotch (teaspooned) |
| Vintage | 1989 (filled 15 November) | 1989 |
| Age | 36 years | 36 years |
| Cask | Refill Hogshead, full term | 1st Fill Pedro Ximénez finish |
| ABV | 47.6% | 51.7% |
| Outturn | 321 worldwide, 12 in the US | 163 worldwide, hand-numbered |
| Volume | 700ml | 700ml |
| Presentation | Natural colour, non chill filtered. Sold only as a two-bottle set. 12 sets total. | |
