BENRINNES 2000 19YO - CADENHEAD IN THE COURTYARD

Time flies - its been 2 weeks since the last post :-O  - also keeping this a short one...

I recently opened the bottle which I'm about to review and I thought I'd let it breathe a bit before giving my opinion on it.... and yes, I know - it's another Benrinnes - but it's a good one!

This bottle was one a little more than a handful of expression available at the Cadenhead in the Courtyard event in September 2019 - a sort of a Cadenhead Open Day outside the one they usually share with Kilkerran during the Campbeltown Malt Festival in May

We were lucky with the weather too for this event back then and the Courtyard event itself combined with a few upstairs tastings and warehouse tasting made this a perfect day out! Add to that the opportunity to take away some bottlings exclusive to this event - what a treat!

Draff being dumped from Benrinnes on 3rd May 2010 © The Malt Desk

Benrinnes 2000 19yo 56,5%, 2 sherry hogsheads + 1 bourbon hogshead, 56,5%, Cadenhead in the Courtyard

Nose:
A slight alcohol nip at first, but then a clean fresh sherry style with rum raisins, cold coffee, milk chocolate, cough sweets, licorice root, and candied apple slices.
I do recognize this as a malt, but the moe inexperienced nose could easily mistake this for a rum, IMO

Taste:
For a second there, on arrival, this just gives an alcohol burn
This is chocolate and praline, a bit earthy style sherry here but still clean as a
whistle in its style, maybe a bit of that cough style camphor in here too?

Quite syrupy, but also a hint of some orangy notes peeping through mixed with coffee and strong tea. Somehow, I'm also getting the impression that this how a whisky/coffee/dark honey mix would taste like if not at cask strength like this one.

Great stuff, especially on the nose!
A real Winter Warmer!

89/100!

BENRINNES 1997 21YO 36.163 'A BLISS MOMENT' - THE SCOTCH MALT WHISKY SOCIETY

As promised in this review, I'll be review a bourbon cask Benrinnes - this one from the Scotch Malt Whisky Society (SMWS)

Now, like many other indie bottlers out there, the SMWS has also struggled to keep up with demand. I remember when the SMWS was first introduced in Denmark and old bottlings at a fair price just kept coming in and draining my wallet at the time.

As whisky became more and more popular these now very exclusive whiskies are gone and have been replaced with something less - both in age and quality.
Sad, but that's how things go - and not just for the SMWS, but for all bottlers.
They can only bottle from the stock they have access to... and the hard facts are that the distillers can sell almost all that they produce themselves and this shows in their pricing too... and all we can now just sit back and reminisce.

Then sometimes, and this is already 2 years ago, bottlings like this one and other Benrinnes' from indie bottlers pops up - gets spotted by the experienced whisky drinker that recognizes a quality bottling, puts it on Social Media, and *puf* GONE !

You now have to chase these ones down almost as hard as you would a bottle of Glendronach, Clynelish or Macallan (not that I understand why with the latter anymore - their whisky just isn't that good anymore - it's only for collectors and for those that want whisky that has been branded a luxury item, but just, in fact, isn't one anymore in terms of quality! - rant over!) 

You see where this is going, right?
It's hard facts for you, I know - but that's the state of the whisky world with all those investors and bottle flippers out there...

Approaching the not so flattering looking Benrinnes Distillery on an overcast day, August 26th 2012 © The Malt Desk 

Benrinnnes 1997 36.163 (15.08.1997/xx.xx.2018) 21yo 'A Bliss Moment' 59,5%, 2nd fill ex-bourbon barrel, 179 bottles, The Scotch Malt Whisky Society

Nose:
Fresh fruit and vanilla carried in on a veil of barley sugar. The fruit, being much of the citrus kind gives hints of Cointreau liqueur, dusty hardwood in the attic, and a slight fresh gingery note along with the faintest hint of a metal workshop

Taste:
Big fruity arrival and then a rush of malt and slightly burnt pastry notes and apples.
The finish produces some peppery cask spices but also a slight paint thinner note peeping through on the finish with added water. This was not there before adding the water...

All in all, this is a very nice Benrinnes and there seem to be quite a few of them out there over these past couple of years. This is a very pleasant middle of the road whisky that's not overly complex, but what it does, it does sooo well - just don't add that water!

87/100!

Thanks to GNJ for the generous sample

MACALLAN 1989 31YO - CADENHEAD SHOP RELEASE 2020

Every year, these past few years, indie bottler Cadenheads has released bottlings chosen for each of their UK and Continental retail shops - and 2020 was no different - even with the Corona still raging...

The bottlings for released in Dec 2020 were:

Benriach 2010, 10yo
Bunnahabhain 2013, 7yo

Glenallachie 2007, 12yo

Glenburgie 2010, 10yo

Glendronach 1990, 30yo

Glenfarclas 2003, 17yo

Highland Park 1992, 28yo

Miltonduff 2008, 12yo

Macallan 1989, 31yo

Below, I'll pass on my initial impressions on the latter Macallan and I will also be slapping an initial score on it, but it will not get a full-on review with extensive notes due to the sample size. 

Visiting in September 2019, a period where the distillery should be packed with visitors, the ones there were what also the ones I feared fiding there...
Most visitors were from markets that see Macallan more like a luxury brand rather than a whisky.

Also, the decline in cask quality over the years are now showing.
The fabled old sulphur-free sherry casks of yesteryear are gone and I find that the new style, slightly sour sherry cask style/note that I also find in Highland Park has crept into Macallan. This makes perfect sense really, as Highland Park and Macallan are owned by the same parent company, Edrington and cask source is the same.

This bottling, however, comes from an ex-bourbon barrel, so we'll not be dealing with sherry off-notes here - and yes, Macallan does mature some of their spirit in ex-bourbon casks as opposed to general belief. This claim is also made by other distilleries that matures their whisky in sherry casks, but this is purely a marketing scheme.

This though is still not a guarantee of good wood as even bourbon casks go bad or infuse too much wood into the spirit. This being a Cadenhead bottling though, I do not expect this to be the case...

The small Macallan sample tasted below was made at the old Macallan distillery and not at the new shiny one pictured below. However impressive the new Macallan is, however carbon-neutral or 'green' they are its sadly also a monument over what the brand has become.

Let's try it

The new Macallan Distillery, September 17th 2019 © The Malt Desk

Macallan 1989 31yo 45,3%, ex-bourbon barrel, 108 bottles - Selected by the Cadenhead Odense Shop

Nose:

Loads of cask spices, a hint of resin, and pleasant vanilla and malt notes
Do I even detect a hint of ginger and hops in here?

Taste:

Good arrival with vanilla, juicy garden fruits, and a finish very much on crisp malt and oak in a good but not overly measure.

89/100!

Thanks to my friend JGJ for the sample