Scotland, Speyside: Single malt whisky through the producing distilleries: history, making, production and tasting notes

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Benriach

Description of the whisky

The distillery

Benriach
Benriach Distillery
Longmorn, Elgin
Morayshire IV30 3SJ
+44 1542 783 400
Owner: Intra Trading
Creation date 1898

photos

The Benriach distillery has been founded in 1898 by John Duff, who built the Longmorn distillery one year earlier. For financial reasons, John Duff was obliged to sell both distilleries two years later. The new owners decided to close one of both, and their choice is fallen on Benriach.
The distillery remained closed for 65 years, but the malting floors have always been active. The malt for Longmorn was produced here. The great needs of malted whisky in the area (specially for blends) decided the owners to reopen Benriach in 1965, after a complete refurbishing, as it has been completely dismantled when it was closed in 1900.
The company has been taken over in 1978 by Seagram who was also owner of Strathisla. Seagram doubled the number of stills in 1985, but the distillery has been mothballed in 1999, because of the financial crisis in Asia which had a very bad influence on the whisky market in this area.
The distilleries belonging to "The Chivas and Glenlivet Group", part of Seagram have been bought by the French group Pernod-Ricard on 19 december 2001.
The major part of the malt is used in the blends of the group: Chivas Regal, 100 pipers, Queen Anne and Something Special.
The Pernod-Ricard group has sold the distillery in may 2004 to a South African group Intra Trading, led by the former Burn Stewart director, Billy Walker for 5,4 million pounds.

The whisky

A propos des notes de dégustation Your own tasting notes

List of the bottles

Description of the distillery

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 Benriach: official bottlings
 

Benriach
10 years
Age
 10 years
Alcohol
 43°
Bottler
 Official
=25 euros< 25 euros
 Benriach 10 ans
 
This pleasant whisky has some strong malt hints. The taste confirms the nose, with however some subtle citrus fruit notes (orange and sweet lemon). The finish is rather long which prolongs the tasting pleasure. This whisky, rather recent on the market, should be better known, and its price is really competitive
.
During a second tasting, the pleasant and subtle taste changed slightly the quotation.

A third tasting confirms the first one. The interesting finish with some nut hints completes the whole.

The nose reveals some hints of smoked fish, on a background where malt and citrus fruits are mixed. In the palate, a slight perfumed acidity, recalling clearly oranges, and the rather complex taste develops from citrus to cereals before ending in a nice but relatively short finish with woody touches. A very interesting bottle, and the pleasure it gives seems to grow at each tasting. (is this the effect of aeration?)

The nose is both sweet and salty, with a touch of fresh cut grass. En the palate, a nice sweetness, slightly woody and rather complex preceeds some citrus fruit hints. The finis is lingering, slightly bitter but however rather sweet, with some vanilla touches. A well balanced but contrasted whisky.
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Benriach
10 years
Curiositas

Age
 10 years
Alcohol
 40°
Bottler
 Official
=25 euros< 25 euros
Benriach Curiositas
This whisky claims to be a return to the original Speyside character and flavour of malts typical of the 19th century..
Peat, peat and peat again. In fact nothing else. The same impression of a lack at complexity in the palate, again clearly dominated by a kind of rather sweet peat. A sweet but rather tasteless finish.

The nose is very peaty, but however, unlike the first time I tasted this bottle, rather refined. There are now some citrus hints behind the peat. In the mouth, this monotonous domination of peat is still present, but more complex than at the first tasting. The finish is marked by some discreet notes of liquorice and is slightly woody. This bottle definitely needs an aeration period before revealing its actual qualities.
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Benriach
21 years
Authenticus

Age
 21 years
Alcohol
 46°
Bottler
 Official
=25 euros=25 euros=25 euros=25 euros
Benriach Authenticus

Colour: golden yellow with some amber glings.
Nose: fresh, smoot. Is marked by pure chocolate notes, oily peat and soot. It developes on lemon grass and on gentian root.
Palate: plain an oily. Very peated, it developes on bacon and liquorice wood notes.
Finish: lingering, dry. Aromatic herbs (thyme and rosemary). It goes further on the bitterness of peat smoke.
(la Maison du Whisky)

A very nice nose. Freshness mixed to clear peaty hints, in a perfect balance. In the mouth, the first impression is peat, rather oily and a kind of malty sweetness on the foreground. A kind of liquorice impression crowns the whole. A very nice finish as well, where woody impressions are followed by peaty and slightly acid ones. A nice success, very balanced, much better than the 10 years old Curiositas.
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Benriach
1976 for The Nectar, Belgium
Cask 8080

Age
 30 years
Alcohol
 52°
Bottler
 Official
=25 euros=25 euros=25 euros=25 euros=25 euros=25 euros=25 euros=25 euros=25 euros< 25 euros
Benriach 1976 for the Nectar
What a great and impressive nose indeed. Mix of freshness with light peat fragrances. Fruit and chocolate. Nutty notes, some smoke and a promise for a very nicely balanced whisky.
In the palate, this balance nears perfection. Slightly acid notes associated to woody memories. Cooked green apples prepared with a infinite variety of spices and hints very closed to nice teas. Really excellent!
The finish is just as long as you could dream and the mouth pleasure prolongs for many minutes.
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 Independent bottlings: Benriach

Benriach
Old Malt Cask 18 years
10/1985-09/2004

Age
 18 years
Alcohol
 50°
Bottler
 Douglas Laing
Cask
 refill barrel
=25 euros=25 euros=25 euros=25 euros=25 euros=25 euros< 25 euros
Benriach Old Malt Cask
The nose is clearly floral, perfumed and with some clear hints of honey with some slightly acid touches. The same floral impression is present in the palate, rather complex with the same honey touch on the background. The finish stays on the same notes, with a rather clear eucalyptus touch.

Un nez très intéressant, avec des notes de miel fumé mêlées à de très beaux relents fruités et floraux. Une certaine fraîcheur agrumique se dégage également. En bouche, ce whisky est d'abord sec, puis passe par une phase d'amertume avant de révéler des beaux goûts fruités, derriere un léger nuage de fumée. La finale est assez longue, et très intéressante, avec une pointe parfumée d'eucalyptus.
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Benriach
The Single Malts of Scotland
Vintage 1984

Age
 21 years
Alcohol
 56.7°
Cask
 Sherry hogshead
Bottler
 The Whisky Exchange
=25 euros=25 euros=25 euros=25 euros=25 euros=25 euros< 25 euros
Benriach 21 The Single Malts of Scotland
A marvelous nose, very clear, consisting of a subtle mix of grilled spices and hints of smoke. Exotic fruit, lots of flowers, a rare complexity for this whisky which is much more than simply nice. After such a nose, the mouth could be deceiving.
Not at all. First a kind of woody bitterness quickly followed by a very pleasant acidity to develop on a nice palette of various tastes from refined wood to half ripe exotic fruits. A continuous balance between bitterness and smoothness.
The finish is very long and prolongs perfectly the palate impression. Really an exceptionally good whisky.
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Independent bottlings Benriach

Benriach
Best Casks of Scotland
1996
Age
 8 years
Bottler
 Jean Boyer
Alcohol
 43°

The nose is quite sweet, a bit honeyish with just a touch of acidity and does not announce a great complexity. The mouth is much like the nose was, A sweet spirit without lots of character nor complexity. Fortunately, this touch of acidity makes is less monotonous in the palate. The finish is not too long and is dominated by the malt.

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Benriach
1978
Moscatel finish
Age
 29 years
Embouteilleur
 Officiel
Taux d'alcool
 52.2°
Quite a pleasant nose marked by marshmallow hints and a great smoothness recalling the best sherry agings. A perfect nose anyway.
In the palate, a very complex mix of slightly woody notes, a bit of citrus acidity and a nice smoothness and above all a great balance and a remarkable roundness.
The finish is very long and keeps the memory of this very nice woody hints for minutes. No sweet sensation in the finish of this nice whisky.
No trace of bad finish, as it is too often the case with sweet wine finishes. A great success.
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Speyside

Speyside Map

The Speyside area is situated at the North of the Cairngorm mountain and goes to the Moray firth. It is delimited by two rivers: the Findhorn at the West side and the Deveron on the East side.
The area is named after the river Spey. Most of the distilleries take their water in one of its affluents; the Fiddich, the Livet or the Avon.
About sixty distilleries from Speyside are described on this site.

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