BenRiach 21 Years Old Temporis

By Barry Bradford on February 4, 2018 • ( 2 Comments )

BenRiach 21 Years Old Temporis (46%, OB, 2018)

Category: Speyside single malt Scotch whisky
Origin: BenRiach Distillery
Bottling: Brown-Forman, Unreleased
ABV: 46%
Cost: £135

What they say

Distilled at BenRiach from peat-dried malted barley, this has been matured for a minimum of 21 years and was put together by new Master Blender for BenRiach, Rachel Barrie.

Official tasting notes:

Colour: Rich amber
Nose: Caramelised pear and toasted oak spice fuse with honeyed peat and smoked pinewood.
Taste: Smooth creamy peat builds to uncover roasted orchard fruits and eucalyptus. Tropical pineapple and star anise gradually appear with smoked cinnamon embers, lingering long into the sweet and smoky finish.

BenRiach - Tasting of upcoming BenRiach release

Tasting of new 21 year old BenRiach expressions in the Kiln house at BenRiach Distillery

What I say

Sampled during our visit to BenRiach Distillery and tour with distillery manager Stewart Buchanan.

We spent a while in the kiln while Stewart explained the basic nature of much of BenRiach’s traditional (and mostly original) equipment, we sampled both of the new 21 Year Old expressions constructed by Rachel Barrie including both this 4 cask matured and the soon to be released BenRiach 21 Year Old Peated expression.

Many thanks to BenRiach Distillery and Spey Progressive Communications for the sample. I suspect this may carry the Authenticus name when released?

My tasting notes:

Appearance: Dark amber gold (11/20), numerous fine tears form slowly and leave long fine legs
Nose: Sweet and peaty on the nose, a thick vanilla custard, sweet and creamy, clotted cream, combines with a mineralic peat which reminds me of earth but also flint, carries a sharpness like lemon juice but without the citrus nature to it, perhaps a touch of biscuit malt cereal and a little toffee or boiled condensed milk, plenty of sweetness.
Taste: Thick and full-bodied, carries that clotted vanilla cream, and thick custard or the skin that forms on the top of custard, slightly oily and buttery all the while with a popping candy fizz signalling the peat influence, like a block of farmhouse butter wrapped in popping candy and charcoal, milk chocolate polished, with chilli flakes in it, almost paprika-like with the sweet and spicy combination.
Finish: Long, chilli flakes persist, oak wood, that creaminess of highland toffee still coating the mouth

Overall

Persistently spicy like dried chill flakes but never builds, a base of thick clotted vanilla cream and highland toffee provide the perfect foil to the peaty mineralic and spicy elements