Review #129: Benriach 27yr 1983/2013, 48.9%, OB, Batch 10, Peated/Virgin American Oak Finish, C#7188, 257 bottles

some of these finishes seem kind of dumb

This is from Batch 10 of Benriach's single cask bottlings, which I guess is already a year old. It seems dumb to put beautiful 27 yr old whisky "Virgin American Oak," but at least it's not tawny port. It's probably best to think of this not as adulteration, but as capturing whatever was lost by not blending different barrels, while still preserving the distinctness of the single cask. Hah!

nose: actually, this is pretty brilliant. The fruit is covered over a little bit, but it's still there: ripe apples and squishy plums with a cherry or two thrown in. Mixed up with that is a wave of bourbonny flavors: banana, vanilla toffee, a little bit of coconut and oak spice. The mixture almost feels like a richly sherried malt, but with a demerara sweetness. The peat is a nice phenolic accent: it's definitely there, but everything else is overpowering.

palate: the peat comes out little more, and feels a little acrid at first. there's still lots of plummy, sweet fruit, though, along with a slightly more subtle apple orchard and completely unsubtle vanilla candy. maybe a little too sweet, but it all holds together well.

finish: the peat develops into a more organic range of flavors, and then a wave of bananas foster washes everything else away. then the peat comes back. and the fruit. then the peat again.


I feel like I'm being tricked here: just a sneaking suspicion that they took a mediocre cask and made it seem like it's really tasty. I'll fall for it, though.

score: 89

Review #100: Benriach 36yr 1976/2013, OB for Whiskysite, 40.1% abv, Cask #3012, refill hogshead, 118 bottles

happy birthday

So, I started this blog for roughly two sets of reasons. One was that both my memory and my notebook were getting more and more muddled, and I needed some way of keeping them straight. (Which of the Jim Beam Small Batch Collection can't I stand? How many attempts have I made in looking for the perfect middle-aged Tomatin or Glen Garioch? I don't know, but's it's rather easier with tags.) Not only couldn't I remember everything, but I couldn't even sort out my notes for anything. The other set of reasons involved all the sample bottles I did or didn't have. I'm not a big drinker at all, so much of what I love about whisky comes from diversity rather than quantity. This leaves me looking for samples, but at the same time torn between treating the samples as too precious to ever open (and thereby make disappear forever) because no particular occasion merits it, and voraciously opening all the samples in rapid succession. This blog was a way to find a happy medium.

I thought I would try to take about a hundred sets of notes over a year's time, and here I am, on the one-year anniversary of the first post, about to write review #100. So success! I haven't actually accomplished anything, I still don't remember anything, but it's been a pleasant path, and I still have some whisky left.

anyway, to the whisky ...

Nose: intensely fruity -- very ripe nectarines and lychee, tangerines, some tangy melon, a honeycomb, and wisps of wood smoke. Some smaller oak notes, too: vanilla, mint, and well, wood. Overall, though, it's fruitier than fruit, and then honeyed and floral.

Palate: becomes more tropical but less fruity and more honeyed.  And there's an interesting sharp edge -- some wet hay and sour but spicy wood.

Finish: the honey and wood become relatively more prominent, but the fruit really runs deep. Eventually the fruit peters out, though, and there's something almost mentholly remaining.


This one makes me happy.

score: 92

Review #10: Benriach Heredotus Fumosis 12yr, 46%, OB 2009, Peated PX finish

time to catch up

after a mini heat wave and a project that needed to get (almost finished), I fell behind on my drinking, but now it's time to catch back up.

this is an older bottling of Heredotus Fumosis, but I think there are still some newer bottles in stores even though it's a 'limited edition'. I guess it's supposed to mean 'smoky sherry' but it is (a) a misnomer since it's whisky (b) I can't find "Heredotus" in any latin dictionary and it looks like Jerez was either "Ceret" or "Asta Regia", (c) why Latin? I do like Latin, however, and I'm glad for a moment that a silly and unpronounceable Gaelic name isn't being used for this one instance.

anyway ...

Nose is delightful -- the peat is intensely phenolic and biscuity, with some motor oil. A little (pleasant) boot rubber, too. The sherry comes through well -- it's sweet (caramel cubes) and winey with a lot of old cigar box and a little balsamico. Leather and malt. If you wait long enough, then some lesser flavors come through: yoghurt, sour apples, moss. The tannic notes become almost savory.

It's pretty light on the palate, with barbecue ashes as the main component, but it's balanced with some creamy vanilla sweetness. The ashes stick around for a long time.

So this worked pretty well, esp. for something with a low ABV, youngish, and cheap. It smells good and it's tasty and it's distinctive.

score: 84