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Wednesday, March 29, 2023

Benrinnes 23 year old 1995 Cadenhead Small Batch

Get ready for five Benrinneses (Benrinnii?). Four of them are sibling casks distilled on the same day in 1997, bottled by three different companies.


Before the four, an older Benrinnes distilled in 1995...

source
Distillery: Benrinnes
Ownership: Diageo
Region: Speyside (Moray)
Bottler: Cadenhead
Range: Small batch
Age: 23 years (1995 - 2019)
Maturation: 3 hoggies
Outturn: 708 bottles
Alcohol by Volume: 51.1%
(thank you to Dr. Springbank for the sample!)

NEAT

Oooooo, says my talking nose. Grapefruits, lemons, moss. Shortbread biscuits with toffee chips. Green bananas. It gets earthier, rootier, and brinier with time. Meanwhile, the palate is loaded with fruits. Lychee + kiwi + guava. A few blackberries and a little bit of soil. It finishes with earth, guavas, raspberries, and lychees.

DILUTED to 46%abv, or ⅔ tsp of water per 30mL whisky

The nose becomes leaner, more mineral, with hints of honey and blossoms in the background. Going a similar direction, the palate tilts austere(!) with stones and pepper. The finish adds some sweetness to the minerals.

WORDS WORDS WORDS

This whisky was a surprise and, I can say without hesitation, my favorite whisky from this distillery. I've never had a super fruity Benrinnes like this. What a gem! The crowd-sourced crew at Whiskybase appears to feel similarly when it comes to the score. Perhaps I should give this distillery more of a chance. It's a good thing that four more Benrinneseseses will follow...

Availability - Sold out
Pricing - I think it was €125 back in 2020
Rating - 89 (neat)

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