Benriach 10 year old 2010 SMWS 12.49

Yes, Benriach week concludes with a young 60%abv whisky with a brief second maturation. It also isn't particularly lauded by the Whiskybase crowd. But today is Friday, so I shall embrace questionable choices. Meanwhile, the whisky's finish was in an IPA cask, which can work...

Distillery: Benriach
Current Ownership: Brown-Forman

Owner at time of distillation: Seagram Distillers
Region: Speyside (Lossie)

Bottler: Scotch Malt Whisky Society
Age: 10 years (18 March 2010 - 2021?)
Maturation: refill hogshead for nine years, then one year in a 2nd fill Tempest Old Fashioned IPA barrel
Cask#: 12.49, "Is this the way to Amarillo?"
Outturn: 235 bottles
Alcohol by Volume: 60%
(from a bottle split)

NEAT

Vanilla and caramel form the top layer of the nose, with mint and eucalyptus in the middle, and weedy hops in the distance. The palate reads like cask strength Canadian Club, mostly ethyl and vanilla. Hints of ginger, lemon, and bitterness decorate the edges. It finishes hot and very sweet, with lots of caramel.

DILUTED to ~50%abv, or 1¼ tsp of water per 30mL whisky

Not much change in the nose, just a little more ginger, confectioner's sugar, and caramel. The palate is sweet and very woody, with tannins coating and drying the tongue. It finishes like a caramel-flavored whisky, with the occasional whiff of mint and tannin in the background.

WORDS WORDS WORDS

As referenced above, the whisky is like a high-strength Canadian blend aged in an aggressive first-fill barrel. It's missing the fun oddities of IPAs; instead it's just gooey sweet. It's better when neat because it sort of works as a dessert pour, but it's pretty bad once diluted. I guess something had to balance out all those recent 90-point malts.

Availability - Sold out, my condolences
Pricing - $100ish?
Rating - 73 (neat only, low 60s once diluted)

Benriach 32 year old 1987 Gordon & MacPhail, cask 19/005

What is going on here? Three 90-point whiskies in a row?! That's just weird, and totally irresponsible of me. Let's see if I can find the repressed curmudgeon in me.

Distilled during Benriach's Seagram era, today's whisky spent some or all of its 32 years in a refill sherry hoggie before it was conveyed into 213 of G&M's fancier thicker Connoisseurs Choice bottles, each secured within its own wooden casket. I don't have much more to add, and most of this information can be found below. Time to drink.

Distillery: Benriach
Current Ownership: Brown-Forman

Owner at time of distillation: Seagram Distillers
Region: Speyside (Lossie)

Bottler: Gordon & MacPhail

Range: Connoisseurs Choice Cask Strength

Age: 32 years (15 June 1987 - 26 July 2020)

Cask #: 19/005
Maturation: refill sherry hogshead
Outturn: 213 bottles
Alcohol by Volume: 51.1%
(from a bottle split)

NEAT

In the nose, notes of orange oil, eucalyptus, and marzipan are framed by musty old oak and newspapers. The palate is neither too tannic nor bitter. Instead, sweet oranges and white cherries lead the way, followed by hints of walnuts, ginger powder, and vanilla. It finishes with tart plums, walnuts, nutmeg, caramel sauce, and slightly more obvious oak.

DILUTED to ~46%abv, or ¾ tsp of water per 30mL whisky

More caramel and marzipan appear in the nose, it also becomes more floral, while taking on hints of lychee, and limes. The palate is mostly toasty oak spices, with sweet citrus and honey in the background. The finish mostly mirrors the palate, but picks up a touch of woody bitterness.

WORDS WORDS WORDS

This is a very good whisky, a bit adventurous on the nose, but a model mellow modern Speyside in the palate, something to drink casually. Now, if that's what you want in a $600 whisky, then have at it. Perhaps if it wasn't paired with Monday's '71 Benriach, then this '87 may have shown brighter. But I can only write what I experienced in the tasting, and that is a Benriach Anytimer with a problematic QPR. The curmudgeon returns!

Availability - Still available in Europe more than 3 years later
Pricing - $575 to $625
Rating - 85

Benriach 42 year old 1971 Whiskybroker

Whiskybroker.co.uk has a throwback vibe (I think I know what those words mean). Their prices are fair, their packaging is minimal, and their labels rarely have more than three colors. Owner Martin Armstrong — yes of those Armstrongs — stays very transparent about his struggles and successes via that Bookface website, which allows many a whisky nerd to fantasize about what it'd be like to run their own indie scheme.

It's because of Whiskybroker's restrained pricing that I was able to participate in a bottle split of a FORTY TWO year old Benriach single cask. The spirit produced by this distillery during the Glenlivet Distillers years (1965-1978) has quite the fruity reputation. This is my sixth (probably last) opportunity to try Benriach from this era, so I'm looking forward to this!

Distillery: Benriach
Current Ownership: Brown-Forman

Owner at time of distillation: Glenlivet Distilleries
Region: Speyside (Lossie)

Bottler: Whiskybroker
Age: 42 years (1 September 1971 - 29 November 2013)
Maturation: ???
Outturn: 189 bottles
Alcohol by Volume: 40.8% (close call!)
(from a bottle split)

NOTES

The nose delights with apricot preserves, mango juice, orange peel, and fig jam. Some dunnage here, something brothy there, and a pumpernickel note in the background.

The palate's apricot preserve note is remarkable. This is whisky, right? Bits of mango and lime float underneath; a hint of lychee, too. It gets tarter with time, also picking up some bitter citrus. Ah, and the mango expands too.

It finishes with a cocktail of mango, blood orange, cherry juice, and mint leaf.

WORDS WORDS WORDS

Oh my. Yummy. The only thing preventing this whisky from being an all-timer is the ABV, which results in a conspicuous fragility and brief finish; though those factors only further contribute to my desire for seconds, thirds, and fourths on the whisky. Had the angels not picked away at this cask like vultures, I'm not sure how high this Benriach's ceiling would be. Maybe 1960s Longmorn? But I shall not ponder what could have been. This excellent pour results in the 3rd 90-pointer in a row, which I'm pretty sure has never happened here before.

Availability - Sold out
Pricing - ???
Rating - 90

Benriach 34 year old 1968 Duncan Taylor, cask 2592

Firstly, many many thanks to Jordan who generously provided this sample, like a half decade ago (at least). Please see his review here.

One often has to go to the independent bottlers to find an unedited Benriach. The vast majority of official Benriach releases (no matter the batch size) are from a mix of casks. Today's 34 year old Duncan Taylor is from a single bourbon cask. And judging by its tint it was not re-racked into a zippier barrel.

Wednesday's Benriach on the left, today's on the right

That's one of the lightest colored 30+ year old whiskies I've seen a long time. That's a great sign! Probably.

Distillery: Benriach
Bottler: Duncan Taylor
Series: Rare Auld
Region: Speyside (Lossie)
Age: 34 years (November 1968 - June 2003)
Maturation: bourbon cask (I think)
Cask number: 2592
Outturn: 125 bottles, and this was bottle #1!
Alcohol by Volume: 48%
Chillfiltered? No
Caramel Coloring? No

(sample from Mr. CocktailChem, see above)

NOTES

The nose is full of limes, citrons, minerals and plenty of barley. To my surprise, charcoal smoke drifts beneath the fruits. There's a gentle dunnage note, followed by moments of pineapple and ginger beer. 45 minutes later some fennel and peppery smoke appear. Lots of fruit in the palate as well. Think kiwi, lychee and nectarines. A little bit of butterscotch, a little bit of bitterness. It's increasingly tangy, slightly perfume-y,  and never too sweet. Though it does sweeten up in the finish. At first it was like liquefied Kasugai candies, but then the tart limes roll in, followed by some mild tannins.

WORDS WORDS WORDS

I think I prefer this Benriach slightly over the official 25. Though it has kept its youthful barley heart, I like the feel of the old cask, especially in the nose. Or is it because I knew the whisky was 34 years old when I sipped it? The nose holds the most complexity, balancing the fruits, smoke, grains and staves the best. I didn't add water because the whisky read nicely at this strength and (again possibly influenced by my knowledge of the age statement) it felt like it would crumble when diluted. The thing about this Rare Auld series is it reminds me of the days when......aw damn it, I'm feeling nostalgic. I'd better stop while I'm ahead. Good whisky.

Availability - Sold out long ago
Pricing - ???
Rating - 88

Benriach 27 year old 1984, cask 1052

I can't believe I still have samples left from whiskysamples.eu. Man, I miss that site. Anyway, this single cask was released by the Billy Walker regime back when they were still partying through hundreds of long-aged casks leftover from the Seagram's era. Finishing an old whisky, especially a peated whisky, in a PX cask doesn't seem like a good idea but for some reason Billy Walker's crew knew how to do it better than anyone. So I have faith. This time.

Distillery: Benriach
Ownership: BenRiach Distillery Company Ltd
Age: 27 years old (1984 - July 2012)
Maturation: Primary - Bourbon cask (a guess). Secondary - Pedro Ximénez cask (listed). Length of time for each unknown.
Region: Speyside (Lossie)
Alcohol by Volume: 50.7%
Cask #: 1052
Bottle count: 258
Chillfiltered? No
Caramel Coloring? No
(Sample purchased from the old whiskysamples.eu 😢)

NOTES

Wave after wave of seaweed and bonfire smoke roll up from the glass, then band-aids and sturdy shitkickers. The enormous nose continues with chocolate, mint, soil, peaches and almond extract. The palate begins similarly with dense herbal peat and bitter smoke. A little bit of grape jam and a lot of orange creamsicle. It has that, er, "hops" note so prevalent in the 21yo Authenticas. More savoriness, dried herbs and limes arrive with time. That herbal peat and smoke meet up sweet limes and oranges in the finish, followed by subtler notes of plums and nutty sherry.

WORDS WORDS WORDS

Much gigundous fabulosity. More words? It seems like an old Laphroaig in the nose, then becomes pure well-aged peated Benriach in the palate with an excellent balance that continues on into the finish. After being fully engaged with the experience during the tasting and as the finish continued on and on, I pondered how exactly this was crafted, and why a result of this quality isn't seen more often. I hold no illusions that it is easy to create a whisky like this, but it is possible. There is a path. And finding gems like these make this whole whisky diversion worthwhile. More please.

Availability - Sold out long ago
Pricing - ???
Rating - 91

Benriach 25 year old, 46.8%abv edition

Yet another tale of a whisky I was going to buy blindly as a self-treat, then hesitated, only to watch the price rise and the ABV dip. Normally I wouldn't seek out a whisky with a sizable portion of virgin oak maturation, but I've been a big fan of Benriach's cask management and blending teams. Well, at least when they were under Billy Walker's management. The Brown-Forman era has yielded mixed results. The first round of cask strength releases were disappointing, but the 12 year old Sherry Wood was a very positive surprise. Yet those whiskies are babies compared to this 25-year-old. So I don't know what to expect. I'm not a complete pessimist, I do hope this is very good so I can issue forth with PG-rated self abuse.

Distillery: Benriach
Ownership: BenRiach Distillery Company (Brown-Forman)
Region: Speyside (Lossie)

Age: at least 25 years

Maturation: sherry casks, bourbon casks and virgin oak casks

Alcohol by Volume: 46.8%
Chillfiltered? No
Caramel Colored? No
(from a bottle split)

NEAT
The nose begins with fresh peaches and nectarines, marasca syrup and amaretto. Then there's toffee pudding, vanilla fudge and musty old oak staves. A bit more heat to it than expected. Balancing out the palate's malty and fruity (lemons, limes and cherry lollipops) sweetness, are mild umami and salty waves. Smaller notes of ginger beer and musty casks in the background. Tart citrus and a zesty bitterness build with time. Tart citrus and toffee leadoff the finish. Later on there are notes of marshmallow fluff and roasted almonds.

DILUTED TO ~43%abv, or ½ tbl of water per 30mL whisky
No you don't want to do this. It's Tannin City.

WORDS WORDS WORDS
Though this unpeated Benriach 25yo does not blast into the stratosphere like the peated 25yo, it's a very pleasant drinker with good balance and a little bit of complexity (when neat). And I'm not even going to complain about the price. "The hell you say," you say. Yes. It's on the lower pricing end of official 25 year old single malts and arrives with (possibly) the highest ABV of them all. If you do own a bottle, I recommend keeping its contents neat and enjoying it during the springtime.

Availability - Many European and American specialty retailers
Pricing - Europe: $175-$225; USA: $300-$400 (sad trombone)
Rating - 87 (neat)

BenRiach 12 year old Sherry Wood

The third Ben!

I cannot say I've enjoyed the Billy Walker-distilled Benriach single malts I've tried up to this point. But I am curious to see what happens when Walker takes a Seagram/Chivas-distilled release, then updates it with his own whisky. Of course, Brown-Forman is blending it now, but the spirit and the casks are Walker Era. At the very least this 12 year old Sherry Wood has a good presentation: 46%abv, no chill-filtration and no added colorant.

According to the official website, the whisky was matured in sherry casks and then finished in sherry casks. Yo Dawg, I heard you like sherry.

Distillery: BenRiach
Ownership: BenRiach Distillery Company (now owned by Brown-Forman)
Region: Speyside (Lossie)

Age: at least 12 years

Maturation: "full sherry cask maturation, combined with Pedro Ximénez and Oloroso sherry cask finishing"

Alcohol by Volume: 46%
Chillfiltered? No
Caramel Colored? No
(from a purchased sample)

NEAT
The nose begins with an amusing combination of earth, leather shoes and Fruit Loops. Then it transitions to dried cherries, grapefruit and floral perfume. The palate leads with fizzy cream soda and ginger beer notes. Then there's vanilla bean, tart citrus, almond cookies and brown sugar. With time it develops toasted oak and savory notes. Though alcohol is the longest lasting element of the sweet finish, there are small notes of tart citrus and vanilla.

DILUTED TO ~40%abv, or < 1 tsp of water per 30mL whisky
The nose becomes fruitier at this strength. Peaches, brown sugar and cinnamon (sort of a crumble). Familiar raisin and prune sherry cask notes. Orange oil and barley. The palate's sweetness calms down, and is met by a soft bitter note. It's maltier and has a toffee note. Less vanilla, though the cream soda remains. A mineral note sneaks in, providing extra depth. The finish is less sweet and less hot. Minerals, oranges, raisins and cream soda.

WORDS WORDS WORDS
I was reluctant to add water this 12yo at first. It wasn't nearly as hot as Ralfy had said in his review. But I had 2 ounces of the stuff on hand, so what the heck. And it turned out to be a good decision, because the palate and finish improve considerably at 40%abv.

This brings to mind the current Tamdhu 10yo. They're different whiskies, but they both swim very well and are good alternative options to the usual sherried malts. The liquid presentation is sexier here, but Tamdhu has the prettier bottle. Though the Tamdhu is $5-$10 more expensive, they're parked in the same price range as Macallan 12, Glendronach 12 and Glenfarclas 12.

The thing that surprised me the most about BenRiach 12 year old Sherry Wood is that its quality matched that of this week's cask strength Ben Nevis and Benromach, and actually topped them at comparable ABVs, which is comforting because I can actually find this whisky in the United States.

Availability - Many whisky retailers around the world
Pricing - $50-$65 in US, Japan and Europe
Rating - 86 (with water)

BenRiach Authenticus 25 year old

Killing Whisky History will return next week, probably. In its place is a review of......a whisky!

---

Last week I wrote about my desire to drink something remarkable, as well as the reasonable realization that I didn't need to buy another beautiful whisky because of the unopened gems in my whisky cabinet.

Then I bought a whisky. As much as I critique how deeply this spirits community has become addicted to consumption, I am often bitten by the bug as well. Usually, I don't follow through with the desire. This time I did.

I fully trust Billy Walker's work with peated BenRiach. Not only did he have high quality stock on hand, but he did a great job putting a unique (and tasty) range together via blending, finishing or both. Those great single malts with the silly names also feed my disappointment over his later Glendronach choices and the new Glenallachie range. But I already wrote about what doesn't work.

This whisky works.

NOTE: This review is from a purchased sample. The above bottle just came in yesterday.

Distillery: BenRiach
Ownership at time of distillation: Seagrams Distillers
Ownership at time of bottling: The Benriach Distillery Company
Ownership at time of review: Brown-Forman
Region: Speyside (Lossie)
Age: at least 25 years
Maturation: bourbon casks and oloroso casks
Alcohol by Volume: 46%

Chillfiltered? No
Caramel Colorant? No

Lovely notes of mango, orange creamsicle, honeydew, brown sugar, toffee pudding and new blossoms harmonize with smoked meats, pipe tobacco, fresh hay and baking spices in the nose. The palate is bolder, smokier. A joint at the beach. Green peppercorns, herbal bitter liqueur, cocoa powder and piles of earth. Delicate notes of kiwi and citrons survive throughout. The smoked meat note returns in the finish, mingling with bitters and dried herbs. It's also radiantly tangy, with moments of pineapple, lemon peel and roses.

Adverbs and asides threaten to swallow my handwritten notes: "Can a smell be luminous?", "Kilkerran @ 25?", etc. That tends to happen when a whisky leaves me giddy. This is the best noser I've come across in a long time. The palate flexes a graceful power reminiscent of earlier versions of Laphroaig 25yo CS, though much different in style. "Age with vigor." ← another note.

Quality is what makes BenRiach Authenticus 25 year old luxurious, not its age nor price. (It would clobber the unpeated BenRiach 35.) I thought Authenticus 21 was great. This is a step above.

Availability - A few American retailers, dozens of European retailers
Pricing - Europe: $200-$300; USA: $500
Rating - 92

Pre-Birthday Whisky: Benriach 32 year old 1979 Adelphi

Twenty-seven months ago, I led a private whisky event that was more luxurious than anything I'll probably host in the future. (Unless I go full nihilist and just start opening up all my gems in one night.) Here's that placemat, once again:

I've reviewed 9 of the 12 whiskies from that event. Today I'll do the 10th, a Benriach that may have been my favorite of the set when I bottled little samples for myself the next morning.

For the official sample tasting (last night), I paired it with this official 19 year old single cask BenRiach. That teenager did not make for a good sparring partner since it had mutated into a oaky mess over the past three years. Or was it always an oaky mess? The Benriach of real interest, the 32 year old, was a much different character, curious in its own way.

Distillery: Benriach
Ownership: Brown-Forman

Independent Bottler: Adelphi
Region: Speyside (Lossie)

Age: 26 years old (1979 - 2012)

Maturation: see concluding section below
Outturn: see concluding section below
Cask #: 515

Alcohol by Volume: 48.4%

NEAT
Its color is 1st-fill-sherry-cask dark. But it's supposedly not a 1st fill sherry cask. The delicate nose takes a while to lift off. First it's very bready and nutty. Then there's an earth and orange combo, followed by hints of anise, menthol, pine sap and rye seeds. The palate is more aggressive. Fresh mint, fresh ginger and tangy limes. Light on the oak and sweets. A few moments of incense. The finish holds onto the mint and limes. Aromatic oak spices and a puff of smoke. Decent length.

DILUTED TO 46%abv, or 1/3tsp of water per 30mL whisky
Add just a little bit of water......and it's a different whisky. Golden raisins, mango, raspberry fruit leather and applesauce on the nose. The palate is creamier, saltier. But also kinda sherried, with lots of dried fruit and nuts. The ginger and limes have receded. Some grassy and herbal notes sneak in. Now the finish reads like a sherry cask. Dried berries, berry jam, salt and savory herbs.

WORDS WORDS WORDS
Let us (I am us) talk about this cask. Whiskybase says it's "Ex-Bourbon American Oak Barrel". One WB reviewer says it's a refill. The other WB reviewer says it's very active. Meanwhile, if I'd tasted the lightly diluted version blind, I'd have thought it was from a refill sherry cask. Meanwhile, WB lists its outturn at 151 bottles, and the reviewers list it as 78 and 171 bottles. At least the 78 count would make sense for a split cask, but, um, I have no idea how many actual bottles came out of this "barrel".

Ignoring all that, I'm happy to say the whisky is good. Good, but not as superlative as I'd anticipated or remembered. Its nose is the most fun, with or without water. The palate and finish are fine, but (other than the incense notes) there's nothing really unique going on. That's significant because the palate has the bigger punch, while the nose needs to be teased out. But but but it's still a quality whisky, especially since its oak is much more under control than just about every much-younger modern whisky thing around.

Availability - ???
Pricing - Binny's had it on closeout for $300-ish two years ago
Rating - 87

BenRiach Peated Cask Strength, batch 1

Top Five Thoughts about This Whisky Before the Review:

1. This whisky was tasted side-by-side with the regular BenRiach Cask Strength, batch 1.
2. I did not like the regular BenRiach Cask Strength, batch 1.
3. BenRiach's peated whisky tends to be very good, especially with some age to it. See the 21yo Authenticus, 17yo Solstice, 12yo Arumaticus Fumosus, etc.
4. But I found the NAS peated Glendronach — which, like today's whisky, was distilled by Billy Walker's staff — to be very underwhelming.
5. Will the mix of casks + heavy peating help this whisky rise above the regular CS? Or will those factors make things uglier?

Distillery: BenRiach

Ownership: Brown Forman
Region: Speyside (Lossie)
Age: youthful
Maturation: Oloroso Sherry casks and Bourbon barrels
Alcohol by Volume: 56%
Chillfiltration? No
Added Colorant? No
(from purchased sample)

NEAT
Its color is pale, which may hint at mellow casks. The nose is full of earthy/mossy peat, sort of reminiscent of baby Ledaig. Then lemons, vanilla, white rice, ham and old sweat. The palate is all peat moss, cayenne pepper and gunpowder up front. Gradually, small notes of sour berries, bitter cocoa and ginger beer appear. The finish is lightly sweet and plenty hot, with peat, pepper and salt.

DILUTED TO ~46%abv
The nose is much prettier now. Candied peat and floral notes. Vanilla, mint and anise. Somehow, the palate feels even bigger. Heavy peat. Intense bitterness. Lots of pepper. Tangy berries and bitter chocolate. It finishes bitter, smoky and peppery.

DILUTED TO ~40%abv
The nose's peat goes sugary and sooty, reminiscent of young Ardbeg. Also some lemons and churros. The palate finally calms down. Light sweetness and pleasant saltiness. Vanilla and mildly bitter smoke. The finish also chills out. Light sweets, smoke and pepper. An acidic zing.

WORDS WORDS WORDS
A few things are certain. The sherry element is nearly silent. The American oak is vocal. Lots of peat, everywhere. And, yeah, it's young.

BUT. It's less abusive than the regular CS......which is not what I'd expected. While the palate is neither exciting or complex, it's better than the unpeated version. Again, the nose is the best part.

With that being said, this seems to be the weakest of Benriach's official peated stuff. Of course, all those other peated releases were distilled by Seagram, not Billy Walker & Co. I look forward to Walker's peated distillate getting some double-digit age to it. In the meantime, the 10yo Curiositas is a better choice.

Availability - European retailers
Pricing - $65-$90
Rating - 79

BenRiach Cask Strength, batch 1

After relying on whisky distilled by Allied and Seagram, Glendronach and Benriach added single malts distilled by Billy Walker's regime to the regular range......less than one year before Walker sold off the distilleries to Brown Forman. I was very impressed by GlenDronach 8 yo 'The Heilan'. I was not very impressed by GlenDronach NAS Peated.

Two separate Benriach cask strength releases — regular and peated — appeared mere weeks before the big sale. I'll be reviewing the regular CS, batch 1, today. Serge and Ruben liked this CS, yet both included the qualifying 'modern' descriptor. Meanwhile, the whiskybase community liked it less.

SPOILER ALERT: IMO, even whiskybase was being generous.

Distillery: BenRiach
Ownership: Brown Forman
Region: Speyside (Lossie)
Age: yung
Maturation: unknown, though probably American oak
Alcohol by Volume: 57.2%
Chillfiltration? No
Added Colorant? No
(from purchased sample)

NEAT
The color is medium gold, much darker than the peated CS. Lots and lots of green apples on the nose. Honey, hay, vanilla cookies. Hints of anise and cantaloupe. Not much burn. Sooooo much burn on the palate, though. Hot cinnamon, vanilla, barley, brown sugar, caramel and acidic citrus. But mostly heat......and more heat in the finish. Vanilla and brown sugar. Acidic and tart.

DILUTED TO ~46%abv
The fruit intensifies in the nose. There's more caramel and fudge. Slightly floral. The palate remains hot. More herbs. More vanilla. Peppery and bitter. It finishes sweet, acidic and bitter. Vanilla, again.

DILUTED TO ~40%abv
A cheerful nose. Mint and fruit candy. Lime lollipops. Vanilla and barley. Even at this abv, the palate remains hot. Hints of lemons and sugar. Vanilla and black pepper. The finish still sweet, acidic, bitter and full of vanilla.

WORDS WORDS WORDS
The nose is good. The palate is not. Simple as that.

The heat rarely shows in the sniffer, but the mouth is much too hot even after I went Full Ralfy with the water. Beneath the heat there's little of note, and way too much vanilla throughout. If there was something to the finish, and if the palate had but a fraction of the nose's fruit...but alas, no.

The whisky is indeed 'modern', but 'modern' in an American craft whiskey sort of way. Young (which is not a dealbreaker), but oaky. Vanilla and ethyl. I take no joy in writing this.

Availability - European retailers
Pricing - $65-$90
Rating - 74

BenRiach 17 year old Solstice (2nd Edition)

As promised, there will be a few port cask whisky reviews this week. Though I did these tastings on my home turf, I wrote the posts while traveling. I hope they make at least a little bit of sense!

First up, is (SPOILER ALERT) one of the best port cask-finished whiskies in recent history. The fact that it's also peated is impressive since wine and phenolics rarely dance well together. Also, I usually don't like wine cask finished whiskies since the elements rarely merge well, making the flaws more obvious rather than silencing them. Billy Walker and his team seemed to know something most other blenders don't because Benriach's finished peated whiskies had (in my opinion) by far the highest success rate in the business.

Yes, you may have noticed my use of the past tense. Brown-Forman bought the Benriach Distillery Company last year—I just barfed in my mouth—so who knows what happens next.

Distillery: BenRiach
Ownership: BenRiach Distillery Company (now owned by Brown-Forman)
Region: Speyside (Lossie)

Age: at least 17 years

Maturation: ex-bourbon casks first, then an extended finish in tawny port casks

Alcohol by Volume: 50%
Chillfiltered? No
Caramel Colored? No
(from a purchased sample)

NEAT
The nose leads with rich peat character: seaweed, tar, salty air and band-aids. There's a light grapiness (grape-y-ness?) around the edges. Then butterscotch, burlap and honey. The peat remains ever-present in the palate, alongside a dynamic milk chocolate note. Early notes include lemons, toffee, nougat and caramel. A hint of mango. It gets sweeter with time in the glass. There's an effervescent fizziness to it throughout. A toasty peatiness highlights the finish. There's also toffee, lemon and brine. Hints of grapes and fresh ginger. A surprising lack of heat.

WITH WATER (~40%abv)
The nose becomes quite farmy. And lots of band-aids. Some tobacco and apples. The calmer palate has more butterscotch and toffee. A nice coffee/mocha note. Hints of salt and peat. A little bit of chocolate in the finish, which is sweeter than before. Lots of lemons and limes. Caramel sauce and grape jam.

WORDS WORDS WORDS
Solstice is a pleasure. I hope there's a third edition in the works and it hews to the formula of the second edition. The peat is pretty fab, the port casks aren't too aggressive, and there's a remarkable lack of heat. It all works (and swims) well. I'm going to assume this is due to very good casks and great cask management. Though I'm not in the market for buying any bottles right now, I'm very tempted to get one of these.

Availability - A few dozen retailers around the world
Pricing - $80-$125, on the lower end of the range in Asia, on the higher end in Europe
Rating - 89

Mathilda Malt Report: BenRiach 35 year old

As you may have heard, Billy Walker (a scientician) just made an absolute fortune by selling the Benriach Distillery Company to Brown Forman.  Some of us had a studied thoughtful response to the news.

Oh gross. https://t.co/q3ak7NM8Rf

— Michael Kravitz (@kravitz_hubris) April 27, 2016

While you may feel differently, I find all of Brown Forman's American whiskies to be especially foul.  All of them.  Okay, some of the Old Forester Birthday Bourbons and the occasional JD Single Barrels are drinkable, but those are the only exceptions.  Their brands' regular ranges are bad enough to make me nauseous while typing this.  Meanwhile, I really like Benriach and Glendronach.  So, my hope is that Brown Forman leaves a good thing alone.  Then there's my unsupported conspiracy theory that Walker pulled a Bruichladdich and got out when aged supply started running low.  In any case, Brown Forman finally got back into the Scotch game just when whisky needed more corporate futzing.

One little treat Billy Walker & Company did make before departing was the 35 year old BenRiach.  OC Scotch Club bought a bottle for our April event.  I was unable to attend the shindig, but the man of the hour, Andy, saved me a sample.

Distillery: BenRiach
Ownership at time of distillation: Glenlivet Distillers Ltd / Seagrams Distillers
Region: Speyside (Lossie)
Age: at least 35 years
Maturation: ex-bourbon and ex-sherry casks
Alcohol by Volume: 42.5%

Its color is dark gold.  There are rich bourbon notes in the nose, as in actual bourbon, like Elijah Craig and Blanton's.  Then cream puffs and vanilla pudding.  Lime juice, fresh cherries, and candy canes.  Honeydew and watermelon rind.  With time it focuses on the melon notes, with hints of flower blossoms and green tea.  There's also something slightly earthy/smoky in the far background.  Baskets of fresh peaches in the palate, along with watermelon rind and tangy limes.  Butterscotch, salted caramel, and vanilla beans.  With 40+ minutes in the glass, it develops a fizzy ginger beer note, as well as agave nectar and a hint of hay.  More peaches in the finish. Peach nectar, peach candy, summer peaches.  Then vanilla bean, agave nectar, black pepper, and a bit of tannin.

Yum.  Without a single rough or troubling note, this whisky is a glass full of hugs.  Supposedly there are sherry casks in the mix, but I'm mostly getting good American oak and well-matured spirit.  The fruits and flowers and desserts notes are what I imagine folks would call "Classic Speyside".  Andy and I both thought this was going to be momentous, judging by the Malt Maniacs' reviews.  It turned out to be very good, just not momentous.  Andy gave it a B+ and I'm having a hard time putting it in A- territory.  The finish is on the shorter side and the palate loses steam once the peaches fade out.  Or maybe I'm just naughty and expect more than hugs in return for a A- grade.

Availability - European specialty retailers
Pricing - $500-$650
Rating - 89

The Grand Epic Tasting of Calabasas

I've never led a private tasting like this before and probably will never have the whisky opportunity to do it again.  It was a dreamy Thursday night.

The bottles

The placemat

The host then brought out his 20yo AD Rattray Bowmore because what we really needed was a baker's dozen.  I got home at 2am, then "slept" for four hours, woke up, and started prepping for another event (bachelor party!).  I'm just coming to grips with how incredible this experience was.

WTF is This? Benriach 26 year old 1987 Exclusive Casks

Though I have criticized his whiskies before (and will now again), I like David Stirk.  When I met him in person three years ago, he was friendly, very funny, and a great presenter.  He also jumps head first into discussions with whisky geeks online, more so than most (or any other?) independent bottler.  I just tend to find cask-related problems with many of the Exclusive Casks/Malts releases.

There were the Bowmore and Aberlour bottlings for K&L (both of which I probably scored too highly), which had odd goopy buttery layers of oak sitting on top of immature spirit.  And then found the same problem with two whiskies (Glen Spey and again Bowmore) from the first round of US Exclusive Casks.  The first Ardmore he brought to The States is one of the only indie Ardmores I don't like.  But when the Exclusives DO work well, it's usually because the cask stays in the background, like with the K&L Fettercairn, K&L "Island Distillery", and the very first Bowmore he brought to The States.  But I will say I did like the cask influence (whatever sort of cask it was) on an Exclusive Casks Ben Nevis.

But then there's this Benriach.

photo courtesy of Steve H.

I split the bottle with whisky buddy Steve H., and I think we're both glad neither of us were stuck with a whole bottle.  There appears to be a 26yo Benriach sold as a single cask by Exclusive Casks in Texas.  That cask sounds good.  This is not that cask.

Distillery: Benriach

Independent Bottler: The Creative Whisky Co.
Exclusive to: Total Wine & More

Age: 26 years old (1987 - ???)

Maturation: Oak, lots of oak
Limited bottling: 629

Region: Speyside (Lossie)

Alcohol by Volume: 48.7%

NEAT

Nose -- Bitter wood, burnt bark, coal, and lots of burnt peanuts.  Ammonia, walnuts, soap.  Peach, perfume, peach perfume, and caramel.  The soap note grows with time.

Palate -- Burnt peanuts, burnt hair, and loads of sugar.  Underneath there's some malt, toffee, roots, and pepper spice.  With time an acidic citrus note develops and, along with the sweetness, takes over the entire palate.

Finish -- Very sweet and very burnt.  There's some malt and toffee.  Citrus, no, diet orange soda.  It pics up the soap and woody bitterness after some time.

Um......water?

WITH WATER (~40%abv)

Nose -- The burnt stuff turns into lead.  Orange Pixy Stix and vanilla perfume.  Hint of white vinegar.  Smaller note of burnt wood.  Nope, here comes the burnt peanuts.  And "orange chicken" glaze with a savory stock.

The palate is less burnt, but insanely aspartame sweet.  Burnt peanuts.  Maybe a hint of apricots.

Finish -- Peppery and cloying a.f. (as the kids say).  Lots of acid and caramel.  The burnt stuff gradually drifts back in.

COMMENTS:

Rarely have I found a whisky that's off-putting on so many levels.  The wood smells totally wrong, worse than an over-oaked old bourbon.  Then I'm not sure what's worse: the burnt peanuts or the overwhelming Nutrasweet.  Or the ammonia.  Or the soap.  Or the perfume.  Or the lead.

Time for conjecture!  What happened here?  Because there are 629 bottles, a lowish abv, and no cask number listed, I'm going to guess this was a batch of 3 or 4 casks.  Maybe even one that was underproof, thus the abv.  Perhaps the casks weren't larger than 200L due to so much apparent wood contact, specifically American oak contact.  Was this an attempt to bury (or blend out) a problem cask?  Possibly even that hypothetical underproof one?  Or because so many things are going haywire, were there multiple weak casks?

This whisky left me wondering "How?" and "Why?"  I've had only half of my bottle split and I don't foresee any reason to consume more of it.  As this is sold exclusively through Total Wine & Spirits (except in Minnesota), I truly hope unknowing customers aren't shilling out $150+ for this as a special occasion whisky.  And I hope this won't be someone's first experience with Benriach, because it would likely also be their last.  And I'm sure The Benriach Distillery Company Ltd would care for that about as much as I cared for this whisky.

Availability - Total Wine & Spirits exclusively (except in MN)
Pricing - $160
Rating - 56  (with water, high-40s without water)

Single Malt Report: BenRiach Aloysius Snuffleupagus

Billy Walker fell victim to sentimentality.  As the co-owner and director of whisky operations at Benriach Distillery Company Limited, about to release the first of his cask-finished 12 year old peated whiskies, he struggled to find a name for his product.  Late at night in his lonely palace on a gated hill in Cape Town, memories of his joyful innocent childhood filled his thoughts and a name escaped from his lips.  Snuffleupagus.

Big Bird's imaginary friend perfectly represented his new whisky.  The sherry-finished single malt was pleasant and enigmatic, furry and a little lumpy, but had a great nose.  The actual Aloysius Snuffleupagus, from the groundbreaking reality series "The Street", was seemingly not of this world, but instead from the very edge of The Unconscious.  He was not shiny and giggly; something dark weighed on those long eyelashes.  Visually, he was a child's version of Dickens' nighttime "undigested bit of beef, a blot of mustard, a crumb of cheese, a fragment of underdone potato".  Yet he was never the brown acid night terror of H.R. Pufnstuf.

But as Billy Walker, a child of the early '70s, got older he left "The Street" behind for matters of commerce.  How would Mr. BenRiach have felt, as his wealth grew, to turn the channel back to the show he'd once loved so much, to witness how the producers had committed to Marxist manipulation, utilizing songs, happy faces, and bright graphics to trick children into seeing everyone as equals in the global economy?  In 1985, he would have seen how the show had dared to reveal that Aloysius Snuffleupagus was not a figment of the imagination.  This hairy overweight sexually-ambiguous ethnically-complex being was real and needed to be treated with equal dignity and respect.  As usual, Oscar the Grouch provided the lone voice of dissent.

But Mr. Walker was too busy watching the green stock ticker on his IBM personal computer that day.  It was twenty-two years later, in February 2007, just before the bottle labels were to be printed, when one of his unpaid interns asked how many cases of this single malt needed to be sent to Snuffy's residence, that the plans began to unravel.  Soon Walker and his lawyers were on their way to where the air is sweet in order to head off any legal action.  Though Aloysius had no attorney, he was represented by his domineering mother Hortense Snuffleupagus (née Jones) who proved to be immovable, even after given promises of international notoriety.  Mrs. Snuffleupagus saw fame as nothing but another tool of control and oppression wielded by the ruling class in their commanding heights.  Plus she asked for way too much money.

Grief stricken, but unwilling to display a moment of weakness, Billy Walker immediately elected to go with his second choice, naming his peated scotch whisky after the Ancient Greek Father of History and a Latin word that means stinky.  Because that makes sense.

Behold BenRiach Heredotus Fumosus.

Meanwhile, Herodotus be all...

"What the Halicarnassus?!"

Distillery: BenRiach
Ownership: The BenRiach Distillery Company

Age: minimum 12 years

Maturation: ex-bourbon casks for most of its life, then finished in Pedro Ximenez casks

Region: Speyside (Lossie)

Alcohol by Volume: 46%
Chillfiltered? No
Caramel Colored? No
Sample obtained via swap. Thanks to Jordan D.!

NEAT
Its fur color is reddish brown.  The peat element of the nose is quite sizable considering the ABV.  There are also lots of rose petals, dried cherries, and baked plums.  There's also a note of sugary olives, reminiscent of Smith & Cross rum (a massive spirit and a steal at $30).  Smaller notes of toffee and black raisins/currants.  A nice chocolate, plummy palate.  The peat is milder (in the mid-palate) and there is a bright fruity note from the finishing casks.  Cassis, baked apples, and concrete(!).  Good oily mouthfeel.  It finishes with a minty menthol glow, mesquite smoke, maraschino cherries, and those baked apples.  A small spicy zing and a dried herb note in the aftertaste.

WITH WATER (~40%abv)
Though the volume has been turned down the peat, sherry, and oak all get a little grimier in the nose.  More cough syrup and band-aids.  Maybe a hint of sulphur.  Eucalyptus and dried grass.  Medicinal in the palate as well.  Darker fruit (berries, dried stuff, etc.) and a little bit of good bitterness.  Some of that eucalyptus/menthol.  It keeps the oily mouthfeel and never gets too sweet.  Menthol, mellow wood smoke, light bitterness, and salt in the finish.

The whisky was much better than I'd expected.  I'm usually not the biggest fan of PX casks and am ambivalent about most finishes, but this whisky is well composed and never sticky sweet.  It's too bad I found it too late in its history.  If it were still around, I'd recommend it as a decent alternative to Uigeadail, definitely over Laphroaig's PX Cask.  But, alas, it's gone.  May its friendly namesake live on in all his fuzzy huggable glory.  And Snuffleupagus too.

Availability - Happy hunting
Pricing - $55-$75
Rating - 88

Single Malt Report: BenRiach Importanticus Fumosus

In May 2007, BenRiach released three 12 year old peated whiskies, each finished in a different type of cask, each with its own portmanteau faux Latin name: Arumaticas Fumosus (Jamaican Rum), Heredotus Fumosus (Pedro Ximenez sherry), and Importanticus Fumosus (Port).  In July 2008, a fourth product was added to this range Maderensis Fumosus (Madeira).  Their website is especially cute when it says that these names "literally" translate over, like Importanticus Fumosus "literally" means smoky port.  It doesn't, but it's totes hilarious from top to bottom because Latin, LOL.

The thing is, Latin-ish names aside, peated BenRiach is usually pretty good.  And I really like the Arumaticus Fumosus.  Jordan from Chemistry of the Cocktail hooked me up samples of another two of the finished peaties via a sample swap earlier this year.  Sadly it appears as if the Fumosi have mostly vanished from the shelves.  Their production was limited from the start, as was the outturn of their 18 year old replacements.  So, in order to stay consistent in my approach, I will now review a whisky that is on its way out.

Distillery: BenRiach
Ownership: The BenRiach Distillery Company

Age: minimum 12 years

Maturation: ex-bourbon casks for most of its life, then finished in "Aged Tawny Port Hogsheads"

Region: Speyside (Lossie)

Alcohol by Volume: 46%
Chillfiltered? No
Caramel Colored? No
Sample obtained via swap. Thanks to Jordan D.!

NEAT
Its color is that of a dessert wine gold.  The nose starts off with a tarry rubberband peat with big whiffs of prune.  There's a funky rummy note, along with rotting apples and overripe nectarines.  "Curiously port-y" was my note before I realized that this one was the port finished whisky, for some reason I thought this was the sherried one.  After some time there's a minor barn note and a berry trifle of sorts.  The palate has an ashy peat that shows up at the beginning and end, though disappears in the middle.  That space is filled with cherry candy.  It's sweet right up to the point of too much without toppling over.  There's citrus custard, black pepper, and tart berries.  An small bitter bite that feels more woody than herbal.  Peat and mixed berry jam in the sweet finish.  Orange and lime peels.  That woody bitterness.

WITH WATER (~40%abv)
Less peat in the nose, but more berries.  Tarter apples.  Definitely desserty.  Like the nose, the mild palate is short on peat, but tall on berries.  There's oak, wine, bitterness.  The finish is also winier than when neat.  Sugary berries, tart limes, very little peat.

While this an okay whisky -- a league above Glenmorangie Quinta Ruban, though that's not saying much -- it never registers as particularly impressive.  The cask finish doesn't work as well as the rum does in Arumaticas Fumosus.  Sometimes it's just sweet and winey, sometimes that bitter oak element sneaks in.  It's better to sniff than to sip, but the palate isn't really a disaster.  I think BenRiach is starting with some good stuff pre-finish, which helps prevent a whisky slurry in the end.

As mentioned earlier, this one has become difficult to find.  If you're determined to locate it, I suggest trying European retailers.  There are more bottles of it on that continent and they tend to be $10-20 cheaper than here.  But if you're looking for a great port-matured peated whisky (which is also nearly impossible to find), I recommend Ballechin Batch 3.

Availability - Happy hunting
Pricing - $70-$80
Rating - 81

Single Malt Report: BenRiach 17 year old Septendecim (peated)

Such is my skill with languages that even after two years of high school Latin I had no idea that septendecim was an actual real word, let alone Latin for 17.  I do know that in Spanish it's diecisiete and in Italian it's diciassette.  The latter I had to doublecheck via Google Translate.  But on a similar vein, I'm pretty sure "Authenticas" means neither 21 or 25, nor "Curiositas" ten, in Latin, so why did BenRiach go with those names for three of their whiskies?  I'm not sure why Benriach couldn't just call it BenRiach 17, other than to differentiate it from the unpeated 16 year old.  This is amazing content.  I'll move on.

I don't have a sexy sample pic saved on my camera
so here's the official bottle photo.

Distillery: BenRiach
Ownership: BenRiach Distillery Company
Region: Speyside (Lossie)

Age: minimum 17 years

Maturation: ex-bourbon casks

Alcohol by Volume: 46%
Chillfiltered? No
Caramel Colorant? No
Sample obtained during a paid event held by LA Scotch Club

NEAT
Nice to see an official 17 year old whisky whose color is a light amber shade.  The nose begins with a simple farmy candied peat.  Underneath that are apple skins, ash, and burnt cotton candy.  With time it picks up some violets and a little bit of caramel.  Same simple sweet peat in the palate.  Almonds and amaretto with peeps of vanilla and jasmine.  Smaller notes of bitterness, dusty soil, and sweet apples.  It finishes sweet and earthy.  Hints of lemon and cocoa.  Not long, but not short.

WITH WATER (~40%abv)
The nose is much brighter.  Lemons, grapefruit juice, lychee, and confectioner's sugar.  A little bit of vanilla.  Less peat.  The palate is more floral and mildly sweet.  The peat's up front, then vanishes quickly.  Some apple juice and a spicy tingle.  There's also a mineral edge in the background.  Its finish is of vanilla, sugar, citrus, and pepper.

I liked this.  Kinda hits the 'B' grade dead on.  I wouldn't call it a complex whisky, but it does develop a different personality when enough water is added.  It delivers peat and sweets, some fruit and spice.  The oak either remains in the distance or compliments the spirit.  In that last aspect it succeeds where the peated single cask reviewed yesterday does not.  It also makes me very interested in trying the port-finished 17yo Solstice.

Septendecim appears to be a lot scarcer than it used to be.  Personally, I would not consider buying it in the $90 range, but at $70 it becomes a good 'maybe' -- considering age, the less altered state of the liquid, and its general quality.  If it is on its way out then it's not the biggest of tragedies, losing the superior Authenticas 21 has been a bigger bummer.

Availability - gradually getting scarcer in the US

Pricing - $70-$90

Rating - 85

Single Malt Report: BenRiach 19 year old 1994 Peated Single Cask #7187 for K&L Wine Merchants

It's Benriach week at D4P!  And I'm starting it off by concluding my series on K&L exclusive whiskies.  In the past I've reviewed a number of items from the distillery's official range (and you can find those reviews here), this week I'm focusing entirely on their peated whiskies.  These Speyside peaters often make for very good alternatives to the usual Islay distilleries' malts.  They're different than the Ileachs' styles but usually of considerable quality.

Because I'm a big fan of the now-discontinued BenRiach Authenticas 21yo, I've often eyed K&L's exclusive semi-annual BenRiach peated single casks with some interest.  Last year, cask 7187 was originally priced at $150 which was way more than I'm willing to commit to a blind purchase.  But thankfully they dropped the price to $110 after it took a while for the bottles to move.  Even more thankfully, I found three suckers brilliant gentlemen to split the bottle with me: Florin, Jordan of Chemistry of the Cocktail, and MAO of My Annoying Opinions.  I think they all (or at least Florin and Jordan) dug into their portions long before I did.

As on Friday, we're doing a triple simultaneous review.  MAO and Jordan will be posting their reviews at the same time I'm posting this one.  Here's MAO's review and here's Jordan's review.

Distillery: BenRiach
Ownership: Benriach Distillery Company
Region: Speyside (Lossie)
Retailer: K&L only
Age: 19 years (????, 1997 - April 2014)
Maturation: former Bourbon barrel
Cask #s: 7187
Bottles: 236
Alcohol by Volume: 53%
Chillfiltered? No
Caramel Colorant? No

NEAT
The color is quite dark, a brown gold, looking almost like a first fill sherry cask.  There's plenty of nose to spare here.  Stone fruit, vanilla, and a mossy peat.  And lumber.  Furniture polish.  After some air, the peatiness goes a little Laphroaig-ish with band-aids and iodine.  Then there's molasses and maybe some pine sap.  A bourbon-like rock candy note too.  On the palate it's all cocoa, black pepper, peat, and heat for a while.  Gradually the band-aid note eases in.  Then it becomes a little winey, like a super dry red.  Tart and bitter.  Tart berries.  Lots of peppery bite.  Overall it feels a bit closed and tight.  The finish is brighter than the palate.  It's long and very peppery.  Seaweed and ocean.  A sprinkle of sugar.

Will water open it up...?

WITH WATER (~46%abv)
Ah ha!  Here comes the elephant manure in the nose.  Always a plus for me.  Then codeine cough syrup meets Children's Cherry Sudafed.  Tree bark.  Leafy but also sugary.  Not much new happening in the palate.  Still a sharp bite.  Rocks and bitter oak.  Slight floralness (florality?).  Earthier peat.  The drying finish is all peat, oak, and black pepper.

A little more water...

WITH WATER (~40%abv)
The nose does get more aromatic.  More medicine.  Some orange peel.  The palate mellows out.  But it is sweeter with milder spices and more vanilla.  But the finish has shortened considerably.  Mostly black pepper.

Much like the Faultline Blend, this whisky benefits from added water.  While I like "sharp" austere whiskies, this one's palate's edge feels driven by oak rather than the spirit, when neat.  Though I recommend not being shy with the water in order to perk up the palate, one may also find that this hydration kills the finish.  But whether neat or diluted, the nose is always the best part.  Had the palate matched the nose then this would have been a heck of a whisky, and I would have purchased a bottle of my own.  But it doesn't so I didn't.

I think the quirk is in the oak.  While it works in the nose, complimenting the spirit, it has taken over the palate/finish.  Perhaps this will work for some fans of woody barrel strength bourbons.  This cask did wind up selling out within the last week or two -- which is bummer because I'd hoped to review more available selections -- but if you missed out there's little reason to mourn the loss for long.  There are more peated BenRiachs out there...

Availability - recently sold out

Pricing - $110-$150

Rating - 80