Benriach 1968 37 Year Old

BenRiach The Twelve

Next to the new ten years old entry level malt – christened The Original Ten – there is also a new twelve years old concocted by Rachel Barrie, the master blender at BenRiach. For this whisky she married bourbon, sherry and port casks. Tidbit of knowledge: the new range is not colored. Wonderfully fruity nose with lots of blackberries, quince and...

Score 84/100

BenRiach The Smoky Ten

BenRiach has been known for it’s peated expressions so clearly this had to be included in the totally new core range. This was a distillate from both peated and unpeated barley and matured on a combination of bourbon casks, virgin oak and Jamaican rum casks. It is clear that Rachel Barrie got access to whatever the warehouses had to offer and used...

Score 84/100

Benriach 12 Year Old Sherry Wood

This whisky's a "darkie." Is that racist to say? Ah well, I'm standing by my initial observation of its swarthy Moorish complexion (as in Othello). Nose: grotty and festering just the way I likes it. Old lodge pine wood, tarry shingle in summer heat, hot dry red dirt clay, muddy football cleats, smoky leather, distant sherry knell,...

Score 78/100

BenRiach Benriach 1986 / 29 Year Old / Peated / Sherry Finish

This single cask of peated BenRiach is part of the Single Cask Release Batch #13. The malt was finished on an oloroso sherry butt. It has a lovely dark color. Almost 600 bottles were released at cask strength. For me, this was one of the highlights of the International Whisky Festival in Ghent in February 2017. On the nose it seems as if all kinds...

Score 88/100