BENRIACH 1996 19YO - CADENHEAD SMALL BATCH

Its time to throw myself into a world of Cadenhead bottlings - what's not to like about that? :-)

Its been one of my favourite bottlers for quite a few years now - why? because of the quality of their bottlings - that why! I agree, there's the occasional dud out there (at least according to my taste - regular readers will know I'm sensitive to sulphury notes) but they are few and far between at Cadenheads, IMO... and I wonder if there's any in the bunch I'll be reviewing next. 

The plans for a Cadenhead tasting took form already early this year.
I already knew then that Campbeltown would be on the agenda for my 2 weeks in Scotland so it was not just a matter of keeping my eyes open for a special bottle to bring home for the September tasting. The rest of the bottles for this tasting was bought at the Cadenhead shop in Odense, Denmark.

First up was the BenRiach Small Batch...

The stills at BenRiach Distillery, May 6th 2013 © The Malt Desk

BenRiach 1996 19yo 47,1%, 2 ex-bourbon hogsheads, 558 bottles, Cadenhead Small Batch

Colour is full straw

Nose:
Classic Speyside nose... lots of apple, vanilla and honey and grassy notes - it gets a bit sharp-ish, but a few drops of water calms it down at bit.

Taste:
Sweet arrival with vanilla custard, overripe pear, some ginger and a hot sensation mid-late palate and again some water can take the edge of things.
With water it gets very citrussy on the palate and also has some gingery notes peeing through at time.

Except for the little hot-streak, this is a classic Speyside profile and one most can drink. I can't really put my finger on what its missing for me to take this one higher... but it is missing a little something.

Still, its perfectly good whisky!!

83/100!

BENRIACH 1975 PEATED TAWNY PORT - DISTILLERY BOTTLING

This is the final BenRiach review for now... This bottling is one of the batch released of single casks the distillery does from time to time - and as they also do with Glendronach.

This is a 1975 and about as old as casks get these days in the BenRiach warehouses... and many of these 70's bottlings are stuff of legends - absolutely crackers!

Let's try this one and see if it can live up to the expectations... and how it handles the port finish!

BenRiach 1975 (xx.07.2009) 33yo, 52,2%, peated, Tawny Port finish, cask#4450, Batch 6, 648 bottles, Distillery bottling

Colour is light amber with an orange hue

Nose:
Orangeries, spicy oak, red grapes, freshly squeezed garden fruits, almost no peat - only vague hints left.

Taste:
Extremely fruity, vinous too, again just very small amounts of peat, honey, soft tropical fruits, loads of pineapple, dominant peach and some apricot and with a hint of blackcurrant and anise on the finish.

This is one of those finishes that has worked beyond belief - what a cracker!
I just wanted to keep sipping this one... :-)

91/100!

BENRIACH PEATED RUM CASK 1995 DK EXCLUSIVE - DISTILLERY BOTTLING

IMO, ex-rum casks is somewhat of a hit and miss... or at least 'try before you buy'

I've had quite a few now - everything from high profile distilleries like Brora and Ardbeg and others like Caol Ila, Bruichladdich, Dallas Dhu, BenRiach and Springbank... I've had more but when I mention Springbank last here it's because I think the Springbank spirit goes very well with rum cask maturation.

Now, also Hazelburn from Springbank Distillery goes very well with rum casks.
Is it because Springbank has a different policy about 'finishing'? I mean, they do not really do a finish - they do more of a double maturation with an equal number of years in the cask as it has previously spent in (usually) bourbon wood. Either that or they do a full maturation in a e.g. rum cask. Bottom line is that I think it works unlike some of the above mentioned where it has not fully integrated with the original cask contents...

IMHO, Port (a hint for next review) and sometimes other red wine casks makes for decent finishing, but I do prefer just ex-bourbon or ex-sherry cask maturation - call me a Puritan - I don't care :-)

What's your favourite cask type for finishing/secondary maturation? and why?

Here's the last of the DK exclusive casks... a peated rum cask...

BenRiach 1995/2012 17yo (peated), 52,6%, Single rum barrel#3928, 199 bottles for DK importer MACY

Colour is straw

Nose:
Is this BenRiach? Old fishbox, coal smoke, a little toffee, sloe gin? Like walking into the Giraffe house at the Zoo - Ammonia style? really unpleasant I think

Taste:
I'm thinking more Islay than Speyside here with fishery/smokehouse notes, but then I get that ammonia again - nothing really works here for me - I just don't like it... the whole thing seems... off!

I sit here wondering of this has been an attempt to salvage some poor spirit or the whole cask just has been off to begin with and ruined some good BenRiach spirit.

65/100! ...and that's only for the Islay-notes in it....

BENRIACH FRESH PX 1996 DK EXCLUSIVE - DISTILLERY BOTTLING

While at it, I'll have a go at 2 more Denmark Exclusives... These 2 (this and the next review) were both bottled in 2012 as opposed to the previous 2 from 2011.

Here's one for the sherry-heads out there... :-)

BenRiach 1996/2012 16yo, 53,1%, Single fresh PX cask#5610, 283 bottles for DK Importer MACY

Colour is mahogany

Nose:
Heavy, dark fruits, some honey, tiny amounts of sulphur that disappears after a short while, hot mulled wine, spirit filled chocolates and malt

Taste:
Dark fruits, creamy mouthfeel,  nutty, oily, licorice, mouth filling coffee notes, a good malt backbone still, lots of bitter dark chocolates, a bit drying on the finish.

A great classic style sherried dram!

89/100!

BENRIACH PEATED 1995 DK EXCLUSIVE - DISTILLERY BOTTLING

In my previous review I promised I'd review the peated cask selected for Danish Importer Macy's 15th anniversary.

Now, the last peated Benriach I reviewed on Thursday 21st March was decent, but I wasn't overly impressed with it. Let's see if a single cask allows the spirit to shine more through in this expression - especially since it's a 2nd fill cask

BenRiach 1995/xx.10.2011 16yo 53,5%, 2nd fill ex-Bourbon cask#2481, 224 bottles for DK Importer Macy's 15th anniversary

Colour is straw

Nose:
Sweet, almost floral peat, citrus, green grapes, a little spice and a farmyard note.

Taste:
Salty, fruits, peat, sweet malt, vanilla and citrus, a bit earthy, creamy and very little oak influence.

This one is clearly better than the 17yo Septendecim, IMO... much more vibrant! A combination of less oak influence and higher abv% lets the BenRiach spirit shine.

86/100!

BENRIACH 1996 DK EXCLUSIVE - DISTILLERY BOTTLING

Danish BenRiach importer MACY picked this cask (and another peated cask, which I'll be reviewing later) back in 2011 on their tour of Scotland to celebrate their 15th anniversary in the business.

This one is a 'virgin oak' cask... and having looked that up on the great WWW, there seems to be many definitions to what 'virgin oak' cask is - at least when it comes to whisky maturation.

Here's a few suggestions:

• Completely fresh oak off the sawmill coopered into a cask and filled with Scottish spirit
• Fresh oak as above, charred, scraped and then filled with Scottish spirit
• A fresh oak cask, charred, filled with American spirit, emptied and the filled with Scottish spirit
• A fresh oak cask, charred, filled with American spirit, emptied, charred again, then filled with Scottish spirit

I, of course have my own opinion of what this is, of course and I swear to one of the above statements but if you read i.e. an online retailers definition (MoM), it leans in another direction...

But what is your definition of 'virgin oak'? Let's try and get a discussion going although its an older topic in the whisky community... Anyway, while you think about it, you can read my review:

BenRiach 1996/xx.10.2011 15yo 51,5%, single virgin cask#3273, 315 bottles for DK Importer MACY 15th Anniversary

Colour is amber

Nose:
Marzipan, vanilla, varnish, flowery, polished hardwood, clear wood overtones, very spicy too

Taste:
Cough syrup, avalanche of oak spices, sugared almonds (that marzipan again), Wood sap, crisp malt, peppery... even some salt!

A good malt, though not one to venture into without some whisky drinking experience, though

86/100!

BENRIACH 17YO SEPTENDECIM - DISTILLERY BOTTLING

In 1972, back when BenRiach was still owned by Chivas, a small amount of peated whisky was need for the Chivas blends. With the lack of an Islay distillery in their portfolio, Chivas decided to have BenRiach produce some peated whisky for this purpose. Although not their main output, they still produced a quantity for them to put matured for longer periods.

Now, personally I've never been a huge fan of peated Speysiders as I find most of the expressions I've tried simply doesn't work for me. I most often find that the peat doesn't seem to be integrated with the rest of the spirit and with that throwing the whole thing off balance, IMO... That said, there always exceptions to the rule - as there almost always is :-)

As you might have imagined by now, this next review features a peated BenRiach expression and an expression from their standard range.

BenRiach 17 Septendicem Peated 46%, ex-Bourbon casks, Distillery Bottling

Colour is white wine

Nose:
Very peaty on the nose, more than expected, fruits, floral, burnt lovage and a bit grainy/mashy

Taste:
Oily, smoky, vanilla, more grainy than malt notes, I think, sweet peat and a little citrus.

Not really getting a lot off of this - everything seems to be drowned in peat, though a little even water and time seems to help.

Decent whisky if you're a peathead, but if I wanted something this peaty, I'd have and Islay malt - this just doesn't cut it for me. Missing the usual Speyside complexity entirely, IMO - though still worth exploring.

82/100!

BENRIACH 12YO SHERRYWOOD - DISTILLERY BOTTLING

BenRiach has much stood out for me as the 'Progressive Distillers' in Speyside. I know its a term Bruichladdich on Islay has used, but I see a few similarities between them. They're both - at least uptil last year (B'laddich sold to Remy Martin) - both independently owned and was not afraid to use a load of different casks for maturation - red wine, rum, port, Madeira, Moscatel along with the more traditional ones as Oloroso and PX...

Another similarity is the peated whisky from both distilleries. Although the character of the peat, IMO stops right here its still fun to try what styles on peatiness that comes out of Speyside in contrast to Islay. IMO, its a much more floral style of peat that comes out of Speyside and if I do have to compare the style with anything on Islay it would have to be Bowmore.

I'll be doing reviews of 7 BenRiach expressions over the next couple of weeks, so stay tuned for a spread of what this distillery puts out.

BenRiach 12yo Sherry Wood, 46%, Distillery Bottling

Colour is amber

Nose:
Caramel, malt, heavy honey and sherry, dried dark grapes - raisins

Taste:
Apples, sweet sherry, creamy and oily, almost floral with some licorice. Finish is drying and nutty.

Matured in both oloroso and PX casks this of course is bound to have many of the above characteristics and it's a very nice introduction to sherried Speyside whisky.

84/100!

7 WHISKIES BOTTLED BY ADELPHI - PART II

Benriach 1977 34yo 48,6% re-racked into ex-bourbon cask#642, 217 bottles, Adelphi

Nose:
A deep amber in colour, Nuts and spices, nose gives off a slightly 'dirty' sherry note - I often find this style in Fino-sherry matured whiskies. Very oily feel and also noses a bit like an old tea-shop.

Taste:
Dark fruits, that slightly 'dirty' fino-sherry style again, more tea, but also crushed dark grapes, oak and spice. With water it gets more clean, even more fruity and with more spicy oak.

This is one of those rare casks that Adelphi has re-racked for some reason. I tried to get the details from Alex Bruce, but this re-racking happened before Adelphi got a hold of the cask, so we can only guess to the reason. Usually re-racking is done beacuse of leaking or a bad cask, and why indeed this whisky happened to finish its days in an ex-bourbon cask is as mentioned a mystery... It is absolutely cracking!

Oh, if only all re-rackings (finishes) could be as succesfull as this one...

91/100!