BenRiach 20 Years Old 1997 Cask #4437
Whisky Review
- Category: Speyside single malt scotch whisky
- Origin: BenRiach distillery
- Bottling: Brown-Forman, BenRiach Single Cask Series Batch 15
- ABV: 54.8%
- Cost: £sold out
What they say
BenRiach holds some of the most experimental casks in Speyside, making it uniquely placed to offer a multi-faceted range of casks in both unpeated and Highland peated styles. Each year, Master Blender Rachel Barrie selects a number of distinct casks which celebrate the distillery’s creative distilling and maturation heritage. Batch 15 includes 17 casks: 11 unpeated and 6 Highland peated – an eclectic mix including port pipes, moscatel hogsheads, sauternes barriques, rum barrels and virgin oak. Each bottle is filled exclusively from one of these individual casks.
Official tasting notes:
- Colour: Deep Autumn russet and gold.
- Nose: Sweet Valencia orange and peach segments on a cream and biscuit base, smothered in syrupy fruit glaze.
- Taste: Peach melba and sweet clementine fruit salad with lingering fresh double cream and toasted almond into the finish.
What I say
From BenRiach’s Batch 15 of their single cask series, this was distilled at Benriach distillery in 1997 and matured in an ex-Marsala Hogshead for 20 years before bottling at Cask Strength of 54.8% ABV.
Thanks to Spey: Progressive Communications and The BenRiach distillery for the official sample.
My tasting notes:
- Appearance: Dark orange/amber gold (12/20), medium-fine tears leave long fine legs.
- Nose: Fruity, baked orange and peach, apple, banana and pineapple, perfumed with hints of polished wood, mixed fruit crumble and also a slightly chocolatey note.
- Taste: The polished wood comes first on the palate, a little closed and waxy initially this opens to zesty fruits, peach, apricot, apple, orange, hints of honey-sweetened lemon and lime and zesty gingery spice and aged oak wood.
- Finish: Long, zesty and spiced dried peach and apricot fruit, tannic oak wood
Overall
A great mixture of dried orchard and fresh tropical fruit, old wood enlivened with some zesty gingery spices. A lovely example of a 20 year old BenRiach and full ex-Marsala wine cask maturation.
Score 89/100
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Categories: BenRiach, Single malt