A Full Case of Benrinnes


April 8, 2025

A Full Case of Benrinnes – Part 1/6

Benrinnes is one of those distilleries we don’t know particularly well. It enjoys a good reputation among fans of fruity malts, but on the WF side, we've barely tasted just over a hundred in well over twenty years. As a result, the Benrinnes have gradually piled up in our library over the years, and something had to be done. This time, we’re going to proceed rather randomly—now though we often say that, a sort of Brownian order usually ends up establishing itself more or less naturally...

(geograph.co.uk)

Benrinnes 15 yo (43%, OB, Flora & Fauna, +/-2023?)

Not quite sure when this official bottling was released. We last tasted the ‘F&F’ back in 2019 and had found it very good, while wondering whether it still came from a batch distilled ‘two and a half times’, in the style, more or less, of Mortlach or Springbank… Colour: full gold. Nose: on the nose, this could very well be a lovely official mid-range expression, we’re rather fond of this assortment of roasted nuts, a little soot, and some fairly heady yellow blossoms—dandelions, broom, that sort of thing… Then hints of soy sauce drift in, with a faint meaty edge and some MSG-like umami laid over a delicate slice of walnut cake. A touch of dark earth as well. Mouth: curiously salty and peppery, again a little meaty, with spiced sherry and a fatty streak reminiscent of dry-cured ham, before edging gently towards miso soup. A striking personality, just as I remembered. Finish: fairly long, sweet and salty, still meaty, still very ‘umami’ in a satay sauce sort of way. Honey comes in to round off the aftertaste. Comments: with this profile, the 43% feels more like 46. A very fine old-style profile, likely the result of a somewhat ‘byzantine’ distillation.
SGP:462 - 86 points.

Since we're heading towards the ‘old-school’ style…

Benrinnes 19 yo 1971/1991 (55.3%, Cadenhead, Authentic Collection)

From an ‘oak cask’, naturally. Ah, the good old days… Colour: amber/honey. Nose: massive, concentrated, camphory, full of soot, mutton suet, bergamot, yellow flowers once again, and dried figs of every variety and origin, along with gentian and other wild roots… Tremendously impressive. With water: an avalanche of old citrus liqueurs and beeswax, plus some apple-flavoured hookah tobacco. Mouth (neat): incredible. Camphory and mentholated honeys, ancient pipe tobacco, ras-el-hanout, orange blossom, fifty-year-old pu-ehr tea (well, almost), and a touch of hashish… Frankly, no one makes this sort of thing anymore, though one does wonder whether every element in the blend was strictly ‘legal’. Well, well… With water: stunning, glorious waxes, stewed fruits, always with a floral dimension, always camphory, and always showing a fine eastern touch. Finish: long, creamy, more honeyed but also more mentholated still. Comments: makes you want to put on something from back then. Say, Hot Tuna, ‘First Pull Up, Then Pull Down’.
SGP:671 - 93 points.

Well done Serge, you've already killed off this session... Mind you, we’ve only got about forty Benrinnes left in the queue… Right then, let’s stick with the ’70s...

Benrinnes 1978/1995 (40%, Gordon & MacPhail, Centenary Reserve)

A bottle I had bought but which had greatly disappointed me—so much so that I never got around to writing a note. But I had decanted about twenty centilitres into a smaller bottle, so it’s high time to give it a proper ‘official’ go… Colour: pale gold. Nose: urgh, that stale herbal tea note that’s always a bit unnerving in older bottles, though I must admit I do enjoy the chamomile and mint tea that’s coming through here, alongside mead, wild rose, and Japanese red bean paste… At any rate, the palate will have the final word. Mouth: it’s very light, as expected, but also rather delicate—faded flowers, floral jellies, the herbal infusions mentioned above, slightly overripe clementine, yesterday morning’s Earl Grey forgotten in the teapot… You get the idea. Finish: inevitably short. Comments: rather like an old and lovely painting whose colours have faded a little over time. One couldn’t deny its charm.
SGP:341 - 80 points.

Benrinnes 21 yo 2002/2023 (46.3%, Milroy’s Vintage Speyside Reserve, hogshead, cask #3453)

Colour: pale gold. Nose: oh lovely, on orange blossom honey, natural old Cognac, vineyard peach, marzipan and nougat, apricot water, ylang-ylang, and rose… This is truly delicate and refined, with a style that feels somewhat ‘forgotten’. Very old Cognac indeed… Mouth: little orange cakes, Champagne biscuits, vineyard peach once more, and a very faint touch reminiscent of top-tier white Hermitage (let’s say an old lighter-vintage Sterimberg). Proper lacework. Finish: not very long, yet it carries the same elegant notes, quite ‘high perfumery’ in fact. A hint of quince in the aftertaste! Comments: it whispers rather than shouts, but the elegance is staggering. Twenty years ago, one might still have dared to write that this was quite a feminine malt.
SGP:441 - 90 points.

Benrinnes 23 yo 1997/2021 (56.6%, Chorlton Whisky & The Rare Malt Hong Kong, hogshead, 232 bottles)

There have already been some truly lovely whiskies from Chorlton Whisky. Colour: gold. Nose: this is fun—vineyard peach and orange blossom honey return, followed by brighter, punchier citrus fruits, mostly tangerines and sweet oranges. It’s all fresh and brisk, and once again I can’t help but think of a small-house Cognac of high quality (the sort that brightens up our Sundays on WF). With water: back to barley syrup and even a splash of apple juice. Mouth (neat): a tonne of jelly babies, bears, beans and crocodiles from that brand we all know, plus liquorice allsorts and white chocolate. There’s also a faint touch of glue and varnish, which is a little surprising here. With water: the glue shifts into candle wax. Finish: fairly long, pleasantly citric, lemony, honeyed… Comments: this is excellent, though no surprise there.
SGP:641 - 87 points.

Benrinnes 12 yo 2011/2023 (53.9%, Berry Bros. & Rudd, LMDW New Vibrations, Pomerol finish, cask #303711, 204 bottles)

First off, well done for spelling Pomerol with a single ‘m’, unlike some in Scotland. Then again, on a bottle for France, that would have been quite the faux pas. Colour: gold. Nose: no Petrus or Le Pin here—more on blood orange and tarte Tatin, which suits us just fine. That said, after a minute or two, glacé cherries and a spoonful of blackcurrant jam begin to poke their heads out. A bit of patchouli and withered roses as well. With water: veering towards cherry clafoutis and nut-studded chocolate bark. Mouth (neat): the wine makes itself known immediately this time, bringing a sense of wild muesli and cherry liqueur (guignolet). It’s quite assertive, but well-controlled—strictly a matter of taste, then. With water: not much change, except for the arrival of spices—clove, cumin, black pepper, bay leaf, and cherry stems… Finish: long, fairly jammy but balanced, by some miracle. Comments: was this a ‘first-fill’ Pomerol?
SGP:651 - 85 points.

Benrinnes 15 yo 2009/2024 (54.5%, James Eadie, First fill Bual madeira finish, cask #367729, 268 bottles)

A long finishing of 28 months in Bual/Boal, a white grape variety found in Madeira but also used in white port. These wines are fortified, like sherry. Colour: straw. Nose: dry, taut, and we love it. Smells of rocky ground, bread dough, fino, chalk, and tart apples… Nothing to discard here, as is so often the case with J. Eadie. With water: freshly baked brioche with orange blossom and honey. Killer nose. Mouth (neat): fermented honeys, cider, old apples, fino, yeasts, ales… With water: sour, sharp, yeasty, ‘overripe’ notes… and we love that. Splendid apples. Finish: long, with pepper waking up but tamed by stewed apples and quince, bringing lovely balance. Superb chalky edge in the aftertaste. Comments: here’s a little idea—get yourself a bottle of the wine, in this case a Bual, and taste it alongside the whisky finished in the same wine. Good fun!
SGP:551 - 88 points.

We’ll stop here for today — that’s our first Benrinnes session done. There’ll be many more to come; we’ll see if anything manages to dethrone the 1971 from Cadenhead…

Check the index of all Benrinnes we've tasted so far