Whisky Review: BenRiach 20 Years Old 1997 Cask #4437

• 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.

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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