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Wednesday, October 13, 2021

Benrinnes 1979-1998 Scott's Selection

I split this bottle with The Coopered Tot back in the winter of 2014. Life was different for both of us then. But it was an awesome evening full of whisk(e)y nerdery and drinking in the Newer Jersey. I miss humans.

Two fluid ounces of this Benrinnes have awaited their freedom, trapped inside a sample bottle for seven years after being sequestered in a 750mL container for seventeen years after being cloistered in a cask for about nineteen years. And now the whisky will pass through my organs. What a life!

Distillery: Benrinnes
Ownership: Diageo
Region: Speyside (Moray)
Bottler: Scott's Selection
Age: ~19 years (1979 - 1998)
Maturation: "Oak casks" (can you believe it?!)
Outturn: ???
Alcohol by Volume: 58.0%
(from a bottle split)

NEAT

The nose begins with rocks + steel wool, and musty wood + dunnage. It shifts a bit by the 30 minute mark with notes of key lime pie filling, witbier, lemon cake, orange pixy stix and flower blossoms. There's some saline and something farmy in the background. 

The palate goes another direction. It's full of metal and charred beef. Vanilla and burnt dates. It gets VERY acidic with time.

It finishes sweet, ashy and acidic.

DILUTED TO ~46%abv

The nose is quite lovely. Chocolate, red bean paste and nutmeg up front. Saline in the middle. Key lime pie and Black & Milds in the back.

Sweeter and more approachable, the palate dishes out lemons and oranges, wort and bitter herbs. There's still a charred meat note in the background, along with a pinch of OBE.

It finishes with metallic lemons.

WORDS WORDS WORDS

I split up the diluted and neat notes again because the whisky changes so much, for the better, once water is added. As with Monday's Benrinnes, this one doesn't cater to any popular category of single malt style, I just liked this one's challenge better thanks to how well the dissimilar parts played together. And also the fruits! Josh, we picked a good one.

Availability - ???
Pricing - ???
Rating - 87