Whisky Review: Provenance Benrinnes 11 Year 2004/2015

I haven't had a lot of experience with Benrinnes, but it's one of those distilleries that I've been meaning to explore more of. Their complicated partial triple distillation system up until 2007 is purported to give their spirit a unique character distinct from its other Speyside brethren.

This whisky was distilled in March 2004, filled into a refill hogshead, then bottled in November 2015 at 46% without coloring or chill filtration.

I purchased this sample from Dramtime, which still has samples as well as full bottles.

Provenance Benrinnes 11 Year 2004/2015 Cask #DL10965

Nose: lots of fresh malt, vanilla, light oak. After adding a few drops of water the nose becomes a little more expressive with some green apples and pears and a little citrus peel.

Taste: sweet malt up front with a slightly sour tang, some vague fruit and floral notes in the middle, then a fade gently into the finish. After dilution the flavors are brighter, the fruit is amplified, some vanilla comes out, and some of the notes from the finish creep forward into the middle.

Finish: oak-y incense, slightly savory, coffee beans, floral, pineapple

At full strength the only real redeeming feature I can find here is in the finish. The rest is almost a completely generic Speyside malt. The complexity and depth of the finish does make up for a lot, but I have to wonder how much better it could be if this case had been left alone for a while longer. More development in the aromas and flavors would have kicked this up several notches. Water helps bring it together and I wonder if this would have been better off bottled at 43%, but it's still not all that it could be.

What this does is make me interested in the van Wees cask strength release from the same vintage but two more years in the cask at roughly the same price. Even if that required the same level of dilution to open up, I'd at least get more to drink out of it.

Whisky Review: Scotch Malt Whisky Society 36.70 "Rosewater Flavoured Turkish Delight"

Benrinnes is one of Diageo's workhorse malt distilleries for blends in Speyside. Until recently it had the distinction of being one of the few distilleries to use partial triple distillation - the distillery has six stills, two wash stills and four spirit stills that were used in sets of threes. Feints from the wash still and weak feints from the spirit still were redistilled in the low wines still and the foreshots and hearts from those runs were added into the spirit still, increasing the number of times that the feints were redistilled. For a diagram of this process, check out Whisky Science. Additionally, Benrinnes is one of the few remaining distilleries to use worm tub condensers, which reduce copper contact and purported give 'meatier' spirit.

This whisky was distilled in 1991, aged in some kind of cask (if it doesn't say, I'm going to hazard a guess that it was a first- or second-fill hogshead), then bottled 21 years later by the Scotch Malt Whisky Society at 54.2% without coloring or chill filtration.

Thanks to Dave McEldowney of PDXWhisky for letting me sample this one.

SMWS 36.70

Nose: oak, fresh sweet malt, rhubarb, orange peel, light vanilla, floral (violets), hints of berries, earthy. After adding a few drops of water, the malt and oak integrate while softening a bit and there's more fresh fruit (apples).

Taste: sweet malt and oak up front, floral/green/berry overtones throughout, becoming more tannic and bitter with vanilla and a touch of sulfur towards the back. After dilution, the malt and oak integrate, the berries notes significantly expand and are joined by fresh apples, oak spices come in around the middle, and the incense and savory vanilla come in earlier.

Finish: oak dissolves into sandalwood and cedar incense, coffee beans, floral, savory vanilla, and green notes

This is one of the few whiskies I've had where the finish beats out every other component. The cask seems to have been in just the right place to add weight, structure, and aromatic character to the sweet spirit without overwhelming it. This is an example of what bourbon cask Speysiders can be, but so rarely are. However, this was released a number of years ago and is long sold out, so I'll have to content myself with other versions of Benrinnes. After this intro, I'm looking forward to trying more.