Thanks to my buddy Adam for letting me try these ones!
This is a 3 way
review that I'd like to aptly name "3 Bens, 1 Riach" because I have
extremely juvenile humour when the opportunity arrives. But that's also because
this triplet of Benriach single casks take me back to a time when I was just
starting out reviewing whiskies and I had the good side of Benriach's unpeated
whiskies and more specifically how good the peated whisky was, especially the
17 Solstice, and I was a big fan instantly both of Benriach and of the
peat+port combo. So while I haven't really had the same level of experience
with Benriach since then I'm hoping today will change that with 3 single casks
to review, so let's get started!
Benriach
2006 Batch 15 #1855 Sauternes Cask
I haven't had a huge
number of whiskies aged in Sauternes casks and certainly not one that's been
fully matured in it that I have the ability to review. This unpeated Benriach
was aged in a Sauternes barrique for 11 years and is bottled at cask strength,
so let's see how this one turns out as the first dram of the day!
_____________________________________________________
Age: 11 Years
Region: Speyside
Cask Type(s): Sauternes Barrique
ABV: 56.5%
No. of Bottles: 277
Maturation Time: Apr. 2006/2018
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- Color: Light Amber
- Nose: Some very juicy sweet orange, lemon, peaches
and mango pair with a nice whiff of allspice, ginger and brown sugar at
the front of this nose with some accompanying caramel and vanilla,
there's also a nice amount of oiliness and oak tannins that make the
nose bold but outside of the mango there isn't a huge amount of
complexity here.
- Taste: More sweet ripe mango and peaches, lemon and
then a huge blast of honeycomb paired with some strong vanilla,
butterscotch and tea tannins along with toasted oak, red apple and then
some big whiffs of allspice and ginger
- Finish: Medium to long with gingerbread, tart lemon juice and toasted oak
There's some really nice and interesting notes here, it's also a very
fresh palate and has a lot of ripe fruits that I really enjoyed.
However, the oak seems to have impacted too much tannic qualities that
kind of throws off the delicate sweetness of the stone fruits to where
it hurts the experience a bit too much. For a whisky that’s only 11
years old I'm almost surprised as to why this whisky has become so
tannic, but outside of that it's still very interesting. Adding water
helps quell the tannic qualities however the ginger starts to take more
prominence which is nice but also minimizes the stone fruits which are
the most interesting part of this whisky. In the end I'd say this one is
worth a try for trying an interesting single cask of Benriach from an
unorthodox cask but for about $134 CAD I still think there are some
better whiskies out there but if you're okay with the oak it might just
be worth a buy for you.
79 pts
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Benriach
2005 Batch 15 #5014 Oloroso Sherry Cask
For round 2 I now
turn the clock a year forward and go for an unpeated Benriach that's been aged
in an Oloroso sherry butt. It's been a couple years or so since I last tried
the Benriach 12 Sherry OB, which is currently being brought back to stores as a
core range release, so I'm curious to see how a single oloroso cask of Benriach
at cask strength will go. Hopes are high for this one!
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Age: 12 Years
Region: Speyside
Cask Type(s): Oloroso Sherry Butt
ABV: 58.1%
No. of Bottles:600
Maturation Time: Oct. 2005/2018
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- Color: Light Amber
- Nose: An opening duet of Sea salt and candle wax is
offset by a touch of sulphur with some more complementing red fruits,
raisins, vanilla, caramel and treacle following after. There's a light
oaky element to the nose with some lingering allspice but for the most
part it’s a very subtle and after a while starts to open up into more
milk chocolate flavours.
- Taste: Light at first until some big orange, lemon,
pear and plum notes burst in along with more caramel, allspice and
sultanas rush in after, the spices here are a tad stronger along with a
faint candle wax yet again along with what seems like foot sweat but it
doesn't take too much out of the big fruit notes I get from the start
- Finish: Medium with beeswax, light sulphur, salted plums and macadamia nuts
It's a solid
sherried whisky overall, although the stinky candles kind of throw the delicate
sweet and spicy elements off a bit. Adding water quells some of the wax but
loses the power of the dark fruit notes in the process. I also with the sea
salt combined with some more oily elements in order to balance out the sulphur
a tad better but sadly it's just an interesting young oloroso cask that tries
to do it's job but is held back by the waxiness, which I really think should be
left to be paired with peated malts as they sometimes work really well. It's a
very good dram no doubt about it but the little imperfections cost it some
points and for that reason I think it's safe to say that this one is just not
for me.
73 pts
_____________________________________________________
Benriach
2005 Batch 15 #2682 Port Pipe Cask
So now we finish off
this set with some peat and port. Like the Oloroso cask, this one is also aged
for 12 years but in a port pipe that yielded over 700 bottles. Pretty crazy
yield right there after 12 years. So let's see if this can bring back some of the
old Solstice magic!
_____________________________________________________
Age: 12 Years
Region: Speyside
Cask Type(s): Port Pipe
ABV: 53.9%
No. of Bottles: 729
Maturation Time: Feb. 2005/2018
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- Color: Amber
- Nose: Right away you get some big meaty peat, bbq
and Texas BBQ spiced ribs galore, there's that Solstice flavour I've
been looking for! Some nice sweet prunes, caramelized sugar, apple, dry
lemon, sea salt and mesquite wood chips round up the palate along with a
nice coating of brine and oiliness to make this a really balanced,
although not super complex, nose.
- Taste: The mouthfeel on this one reminds me a lot
of Kilchoman Port Cask, it's nice and sharp and straight to the point. A
nice whiff of brown sugar meats tender pork rib meats lathered with
sweet and smoky bbq sauce paired with some nice barley sugars, lemon
citrus, prunes, raisins, tea tannins and paprika. A nice dash of
nuttiness also comes around in the background that pairs well with the
meatiness and sweet bbq flavours.
- Finish: Medium to long with lingering allspice and cooking spices, sharp oak, dark fruits and a hint of earthy tobacco
This whisky, while
not as old as the 17 Solstice, comes very close in how quality it is at 12
years old. While I would've liked to see some more of the darker fruits come
into play at times the balance is quite good and the bbq peat is very easy to
drink although maybe not as much as some X.3 Octomores and Laphroaig cask
strength bottlings. Even then for a peated Speyside it's definitely quality
stuff for its age and for $158 CAD while there are some better deals for peated
whisky in Canada its still quite good and might be worth a buy if you want
something that drinks nice and has a good deal of complexity.
85 pts
Overall there's a good amount of variety among these three single casks but I'm only really tempted to buy the peated port pipe single cask. I think I've just found myself being more attracted to Benriach's peated stuff as from past experiences my highest marks for Benriach distillery bottlings have been their mid teens aged peated malts so if you're looking for something different from Speyside I'd recommend taking a deeper look into Benriach's peated stuff a bit more over their unpeated stuff as it just has more interesting qualities to it. Out of the Beam Suntory owned Speyside distilleries unpeated stuff should honestly be left for Glendronach and peat to Benriach and the now revived Glenglassaugh because they're both making some nice whiskies and I'm excited to try some more of them in the future.
Current Review Scoring System:
0-49: Horrible
50-59: Bad
60-69: Mediocre to Average
70-74: Average to Good
75-79: Good to Great
80-84: Great to Excellent
85-89: Excellent
90-94: Superb
95+: Masterpiece
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