Benriach 1976 For the Whisky Fair

[ALouis]

J'ai trouvé 2 bouteilles de Benriach 1976 pour lesquelles je ne trouve aucune info:

Benriach 33 yo 1976 The Whisky Fair 46.2% Cask 3550
Benriach 33 yo 1976 The Whisky Fair 47.4% Cask 3558

Ce dernier est le fut voisin du fameux embouteillage for LMDW.

Qqun a t il deja gouté?

[Serge]

Yes, pré-goûtés. Très bons tous les deux mais assez différents. Je vais mettre le goûtement de ces deux ouiskies en priorité dans mon programme.

[ALouis]

Yes, pré-goûtés. Très bons tous les deux mais assez différents. Je vais mettre le goûtement de ces deux ouiskies en priorité dans mon programme.

Merci Serge.
Etant amateur des Benriach 76 (Cask 3557, 8079 et 2014), j'attends avec impatience tes notes.

[piazzolla]

J'ai trouvé 2 bouteilles de Benriach 1976 pour lesquelles je ne trouve aucune info:

Benriach 33 yo 1976 The Whisky Fair 46.2% Cask 3550
Benriach 33 yo 1976 The Whisky Fair 47.4% Cask 3558

Ce dernier est le fut voisin du fameux embouteillage for LMDW.

Qqun a t il deja gouté?

Ils sont nouveaux depuis quand ceux là ????

[ALouis]

Je les ai vu hier seulement.
Embouteillé en Mai 2009 et Serge les a gouté récemment aussi.
C'est tout chaud

[lexus]

Etant un grand amateur de Benriach et possedant deja 4 versions de 1976. je suis egalement tres curieux et attends les notes de serge avec impatience...

[ALouis]

Attention Lexus car il ne reste que qq bouteilles du Cask 3558 à TWF et quelques bouteilles du 3550 sur des boutiques en ligne mais c'est à l'unité....

[lexus]

Attention Lexus car il ne reste que qq bouteilles du Cask 3558 à TWF et quelques bouteilles du 3550 sur des boutiques en ligne mais c'est à l'unité....

je crois que mon caviste doit en avoir...il importe TWF pour la belgique...
Merci pour le conseil

[Serge]

Top les 2.
3550 plus fruité/exubérant.
3558 plus vanillé/boisé.
92 chacun.
Le Clynelish 1982 perfect dram est encore meilleur. Magnifique si vous aimez les Clynelish "tendus".

[canis lupus]

Top les 2.
3550 plus fruité/exubérant.
3558 plus vanillé/boisé.
92 chacun.
Le Clynelish 1982 perfect dram est encore meilleur. Magnifique si vous aimez les Clynelish "tendus".

Ca y est, demain, y'a plus une bouteille de dispo sur le marché. Après-demain, à 1000€ sur ebay.

[Serge]

Allez hoppla

TASTING – FOUR OLD OFFICIAL BENRIACH

Benriach 33 yo 1976/2009 (46.2%, OB for the Whisky Fair, hogshead, cask #3550, 103 bottles) There’s already been several fabulous 1976 Benriachs, such as one for the Craigellachie Hotel and one for La Maison du Whisky. Colour: full gold. Nose: as expected, this one screams ‘fruits!’ Actually, it’s a superb combination of tropical fruits with lightly resinous and mentholated notes. Tangerines, passion fruits, papayas, dried grapefruits, plain lemon and mangos coated with ‘natural’ vanilla and lemon honey. Medium oakiness (nutmeg and ginger), astounding freshness at 33 years of age. Enough said. Mouth: fantastically fruity and candied, amazingly fresh. Let’s be short for once: it’s the best grapefruit syrup I ever drank, and indeed one of these stunning 1976 Benriachs in style. Finish: very long, on lemon marmalade and liqueur. Comments: not sure there are vintage effects in single malt whisky but if there are (of course there are), 1976 is THE vintage at Benriach’s. SGP:831 - 92 points.

Benriach 33 yo 1976/2009 (47.4%, OB for the Whisky Fair, hogshead, cask #3558, 162 bottles) Colour: gold. Nose: this one is less emphatic, less ‘wham-bam’ than cask #3550 and probably a little oakier and more on vanilla. A little more mentholated as well. Now, after five or ten minutes, the exuberant fruitiness does come out indeed, a little more on zests and skins than cask #3550. Fresh walnuts. Let’s check the palate, things can well go upside down. Mouth: we’re closer to cask #3550 now, yet more vanilled and honeyed/candied and less exuberantly fresh. Other than that we have the same big fruitiness, coated with something such as butter caramel and vanilla sauce. Werther’s Originals. Finish: oakier but beautifully so, with quite some ginger and white pepper plus quite some spearmint in the aftertaste. And mucho grapefruit! Comments: hard to say which of these two casks for The Whisky Fair is the best – sorry, my favourite. This one has a little more oak but it’s in no way drying oak. Right, let’s declare it’s a tie, the differences aren’t worth one point in my view. SGP:741 - 92 points.

Benriach 34 yo 1970/2004 (51.2%, OB, hogshead, cask #4005, 254 bottles) Colour: dark amber. Nose: well, if it’s a hogshead it’s a sherry hogshead because this one bursts with parsley and soy sauce at first nosing, as well as notes of old Rivesaltes (rancio), leather and raisins. Truly superb but less “Benriach” than the 1976s and more like some well-aged sherry brandy. Also prunes, hints of raspberry jam and fruit ganache, then whiffs of cherry wood, cedar and cigar tobacco. A humidor full of Habanos. Gets more vinous and dry after fifteen minutes. Mouth: extremely concentrated and very oaky attack, but it’s superb oak, displaying a wide array of spices that combine well with the spirit. No need to list them all but cloves and nutmeg are very obvious. Then a lot of walnut liqueur (Nusswasser that my grandma used to make). Tannic but not excessively so. Dried figs and dates. Finish: long, not as drying as I had feared, with a little mint in the aftertaste. And our beloved grapefruits! (your late, grapefruits). Comments: I tend to prefer the 1976s (who wouldn’t) but this is great whisky. SGP:571 - 90 points.

Benriach 38 yo 1966/2004 (50%, OB, hogshead, cask #2382, 158 bottles) Colour: full amber. Nose: certainly not the most expressive of them all, this one starts more on marzipan and bitter oranges, with much more wood extracts but no obvious tannicity. Whiffs of old turpentine, olive oil, old furniture, then satay sauce, game and old walnuts. The fruitiness is deep down inside, very discreet. Another superb whisky but it lost the distillery’s main characters. Mouth: ho-ho, the beast wasn’t dead! Amazing array of dried fruits and the liqueurs and spirits made thereof combined with dark strong honey (chestnut) and pepper and cloves. Gets just a tad drying and slightly bitterish (grape pips). Finish: long, oaky for sure but still clean if not exactly fresh. Quite some tannins, the finish isn’t the nicest part. Comments: totally fab until it got frankly drying at the finish, which, as usual, will prevent it to fetch 90+ points. Dura lex, sed lex. SGP:471 - 89 points.

[Serge]

Hoppla encore

TASTING – TWO 1982 CLYNELISH

I’m not far from thinking that Clynelishes from the 1982/1983 era were as close as they could get to ‘old Clynelish’, that is to say the old distillery before it was rechristened ‘Brora’. Maybe because Brora was about to get silenced forever…

Clynelish 27 yo 1982/2009 (53.9%, The Perfect Dram II, Bourbon, 240 bottles) Colour: straw. Nose: holy featherless crow! This is it, one of the most austere yet magnificent spirits ever made by man. A spirit so great that it does not need any vulgar speedy oak doping, nor any crappy wine finishing to express its full class. In other word, a distillate that needs no crutches! As I had hoped, we’re very close to ‘old Clynelish’ (think the different old 12yo 100°proof for Giaccone), with a quintessential waxiness and a full bag of other aromas such as limejuice, flints, oysters and riesling. The perfect profile in my opinion. With water: lemon-scented candles and old Alsatian riesling from the best makers’. Mouth (neat): it is exceptional Clynelish, no doubt, reminding me of a very rare 1983 by Samaroli for A. Bleve in Rome that was very impressive. Indeed, this 1982 is an amazing whisky, maybe not the most complex ever but these flavours of lemon pie and honey-loaded beeswax plus a very tensed flintiness are totally perfect. And so is the oak. With water: please call the anti-maltoporn brigade. Finish: long and exceptional. Comments: I want to marry this whisky. Perfect dram indeed. SGP:363 - 93 points.

Clynelish 1982/1995 (64.5%, Scotch Malt Whisky Society, 26.3) One of the first Clynelishes by the SMWS. Colour: dark amber with reddish hues. Nose: it seems that we’re in the same category as the 27yo but this is so powerful that the tiniest vapours will just perforate your nasal fossae and blow your brain out in a flash. If you don’t mind, I won’t even try and shall pour a good dozen drops of water into it before going on. With water: superb notes of parsley, very old balsamic vinegar from Modena (a genuine one, not the supermarket crap), leather, walnut liqueur, coffee and shoe polish. Does the heavy sherry mask Clynelish? Not quite, they rather work in symbiosis here, which isn’t that common with whisky. Mouth (neat): wowie! Coffee-schnapps galore but it’s all too strong. Cough, cough… With water: a very old Château Chalon by Jean Macle or Marius Perron, only with more alcohol. If you don’t know these superb wines yet, you should really try to put your hands on one or three bottles, they age even better than Charlotte Rampling. Amazing ‘taste of yellow’ and walnuts. Finish: endless, more on toasted bread. Quite some peat in the aftertaste. Comments: I liked the ‘naked’ version a little better coz it’s purer but this is fantastic as well. SGP:463 - 92 points.

[lexus]

Top les 2.
3550 plus fruité/exubérant.
3558 plus vanillé/boisé.
92 chacun.
Le Clynelish 1982 perfect dram est encore meilleur. Magnifique si vous aimez les Clynelish "tendus".

Thanks pour les infos sur le longmorn...

Par contre j'ai deguste ce clynelish hier...plutot decu de prime abord...cela va demander une autre de degust ce week-end avec whiskywalker...
Que veux-tu dire exactement par tendu

[lexus]

oups, j'avais pas vu tes notes

[Serge]

Bonne remarque Lexus, je vais insister sur le style/ceux des années 70. Faut aimer...
Longmorn ?