Benrinnes

benrinnes-distillery

  • Founded: 1835
  • Status: Operational
  • Region: Speyside, Scotland – Aberlour, Banffshire AB38 9NN +44(0)1340 872600
  • Online: n/a
Benrinnes-15-years-old

History The first time whisky was produced at the site of Benrinnes distillery was in 1826, when a distillery was founded by Peter McKenzie. This distillery was destroyed by a flood in 1829, and was rebuilt in 1835 in the outbuildings of a farmhouse by John Innes, and officially founded under the name Lyne of Ruthrie. The distillery went bankrupt, and Lyne of Ruthrie was sold to William Smith in 1834. Smith changed the name of the distillery to the present name Benrinnes before selling the property to David Edward in 1864 who ran the distillery until his son Alexander Edward took over operation of the distillery in 1896 after it was ravaged by a major fire before being rebuilt and modernised; the distillery converted to be powered by electricity. In 1887 Alfred Barnard described the distillery in his work The Whisky Distilleries of the United Kingdom. At this time the distillery had two stills, a wash still with a capacity of 1080 gallons, and a spirit still of 1004 gallons.

The distillery was sold to John Dewar & Sons in 1922. Under Dewars it was rebuilt in 1956, replacing the malting floors with a Saladin box in 1964, and ending the farming activities on the site. The distillery was expanded in 1966, adding three stills to the three present stills, which were all converted to internal heating in 1970. In 1974 Benrinnes changed its distillation process to a partial triple distillation process. The distillery stopped producing its own malt in 1984 opting to buy malt on the market instead, and removed its saladin box. The triple distillation process was abandoned in 2007, when it switched to a more common configuration of two wash stills and four spirit stills. Benrinnes employed some unusual production techniques. Between 1974 and 2007 the distillery used a unique partial triple distillation process. In this process the feints from the wash still, the weaker parts of feints of the spirit still, and the feints from the low wine still itself are distilled in a low wines still, while the spirit still is fed by the foreshots and the heart of the wash and low wine still, and its own foreshots and strong feints. The necks of the stills are cooled by worm tubs, a technique that is no longer very common. Benrinnes produces one fifteen-year-old semi-official bottling in the Flora and Fauna range since 1991.

The Whiskyphiles tasting notes

Official Bottling
  • Benrinnes-15-years-old Benrinnes 15 Years Old Flora and Fauna (2014) - Benrinnes 15 Years Old Flora and Fauna (43%, OB, 2014) Single malt scotch whisky 43% ABV, £47.95 for 70cl What they say: A ‘partially’ triple-distilled Speysider, this single malt from the Benrinnes […]
Independent Bottling
A.D. Rattray
  • stronachie-10-year-old-whisky Stronachie 10 Year Old (2018) - Stronachie 10 Year Old single malt scotch whisky review: A great base or standard Benrinnes expression, and nice to sample something only matured in Bourbon casks. Plenty of room for distillery/spirit character to play here to great effect. 82/100
Cadenhead
  • Benrinnes 25 Years Old 1988 Authentic Collection (2015) - Benrinnes 25 Years Old 1988 Authentic Collection (53%, Cadenheads, Bourbon HH, 270 Bottles, 2013) Speyside single malt scotch whisky 53% ABV £84.50 for 70cl available from Wm Cadenhead Score: 87/100 What they […]
Darkness!
  • Benrinnes 15 Year Old Darkness! Oloroso Cask Finish (2014) - Benrinnes 15 Year Old Darkness! Oloroso Cask Finish (52.9%, Master of Malt, 96 Bottles, 2014) 52.9% ABV, £59.95 Score: 85/100 What they say: Are you afraid of the dark? You shouldn’t be, […]
  • Benrinnes 15 Year Old Darkness! PX Cask Finish (2014) - Benrinnes 15 Year Old Darkness! PX Cask Finish (53.3%, Master of Malt, 94 Bottles, 2014) 53.3% ABV, £59.95 Score: 85/100 What they say: As Edward Teller probably once said, “When you come […]
Douglas McGibbon
  • Benrinnes 18YO 1997 Provenance Benrinnes 18 Years Old 1997 Provenance (2014) - Benrinnes 18 Years Old 1997 Provenance (46%, Douglas McGibbon, Sherry Butt #6506, 2010) 46% ABV, £54.95 for 70cl Score: 87/100 What they say: A single cask bottling of Benrinnes by highly regarded […]
Hunter Laing
Robert Graham
  • benrinnes-19-year-old-1995-treasurers-selection-robert-graham Benrinnes 19 Years Old 1995 Treasurer Selection (2017) - Benrinnes 19 Years Old 1995 Treasurer Selection (50.5%, Robert Graham, Cask #9095, 312 Bottles, 2015) Category: Speyside single malt scotch whisky Origin: Benrinnes Distillery Bottling: Robert Graham; Treasurer’s Selection ABV: 50.5% Cost: […]
Scotch Malt Whisky Society
  • SMWS 36.70 Rosewater flavoured Turkish Delight (2015) - Another Dram picked purely on SMWS tasting notes. I have started to come round to Paula's love of floral rose flavours. Generally I stay away from too much Lavender due to its close association to soapy flavour/texture, but do quite like Violet (parma violet sweeties!) in my whisky. There have been a few recently that capture this Rose with touches of lemon and also a flowery and barley flour nature that is just so reminiscent of classic Turkish Delight. This dram was backed by plenty of sugary sweetness and touches of woody/herbal spices indicative of its age also. Yum! 86/100
The Firkin whisky company
  • Benrinnes-2008-The-Firkin-Ten Benrinnes 2008 The Firkin Ten (2021) - The result of combining Benrinnes distillate with ex-Madeira cask is a quite light and almost effervescent whisky. Sweet and peachy from the Madeira wine influence and deliciously spiced towards the end of the palate. 83/100