We were at the ‘less is more” stage of our London Whisky Show 2023 explorations. Just a select duo per booth, a little listening and learning, and then moving on. After an interesting pit stop at the Diageo counter, our next pairing was reserved for BenRiach.
We were guided through two options – the 21 year and Malting Season. Earlier in the day, we had sampled the remarkable 31 year MacBeth Thane “Mentieth” expression. So how did the OB expressions fare?
My tasting notes were a bit limited I’m afraid. I just captured how much we enjoyed the sweet and peat interplay in the aromas together with finding it much sweeter on the palate, a veritable fruit bowl, rich and elegant, followed by a puff of smoke on the finish. This tends to be what we find and enjoy about BenRiach and it was lovely to revisit a 21-year-old expression.
What more do we know?
Master Blender Rachel Barrie used a combination of unpeated and peated spirit and four casks: bourbon barrels, sherry casks, virgin oak casks, and Bordeaux red wine casks. In Europe, it can be found for ~€175.
BenRiach Malting Season First Edition, Batch 3 (2023) 48.7%
Here too, my tasting notes were brief. However, clearly, I enjoyed it! We found it fruity and fun on the nose, smooth sweet, and satisfying on the palate – very fruity yet with substance. I don’t recall any peat in this expression – which is also perfectly fine!
What more do they share?
Benriach Malting Season is the first expression in a century to be produced entirely using barley malted from our Speyside distillery’s historic floor maltings. The first edition of Benriach Malting Season is two-cask matured in bourbon and virgin oak barrels to bring out the wholesome, creamy flavour we find in the distillery’s floor malted spirit, giving a beautiful barley gold colour to the liquid. The expression boasts a rich aroma of barley sugar, almond fudge and poached orchard apple with smooth, rounded flavours of vanilla and honeyed pear, with a lasting nuttiness of slowly kilned malt.
The first edition of the small batch release is comprised of 23 barrels, all distilled on 2nd November 2012, yielding 6672 bottles in total.
In Europe, Malting Season expressions can be found for ~€100.
Here is a picture of others that we skipped… too much malt, too little time!
If you are curious about other BenRiach tasting experiences, we have had quite a few over the years:
- 12 year 43%
- 12 year (2005/2018) Cask No 5052 59.3%
- 15 year (1999/2015) Cask no 44016 55.1% (Manitoba Liquor Commission)
- 16 year 40%
- 17 year Septendecim 46%
- 20 year (1994/2014) Cask 808 Olorosso Sherry Peated OB, Taiwan Bottle 84/678 54.7%
- 21 year (1988) 54.8%
- 22 year Moscatel 46% (SMSW)
- 25 year Authenticus Peated 46%
- 31 year “The Thanes – Menteith” (1992 – 2023) 53.1% (Elixir Macbeth Act One)
- Peated Quarter Cask 46%
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