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3rd Party Tasting Notes
Sweet tropical fruit aromas with baked apple and honey, followed by citrus zest and soft smoke.
From the Bottle
The Distillery: Benromach
| Established: 1898 |
| Silent since: False |
| Address: Invereme Road, Forres, Morayshire, IV36 3EB, United Kingdom |
In the new Millenium
The Benromach distillery in Forres was built in 1898 by the Benromach Distillery Company; a partnership between Duncan McCallum (owner of the Glen Nevis distillery in Campbelltown) and F.W. Brickman (a spirit merchant from Leith in the South). It was officially opened in 1900 but closed again soon after.
Gordon & MacPhail couldn"t bring Benromach back to life quite as quickly as they would have liked because they had some problems obtaining the trademark and water rights. On October 15 1998, Benromach was officially re-opened by Prince Charlie of Wales.
Five certified malt maniacs (Serge, Davin, Craig, Krishna and myself) visited Benromach in June 2003 and were shown around the distillery and the big Gordon & MacPhail warehouses by Derek Hancock. The grand tour Derek gave us was one of the most interesting ones I"ve had so far and I realised that I still had a lot to learn about the production, maturation and distribution of Scotch malt whisky.
Benromach ("shaggy mountain") was rebuilt in the 1960"s and 1970"s, but that didn"t keep the owners from closing the distillery in 1983, together with Banff, Dallas Dhu, Glen Albyn, Glenlochy, Glen Mhor, North Port / Brechin and Saint Magdalene / Linlithgow. Their other sister distilleries Coleburn , Glenury Royal, Hillside / Glenesk and Millburn were closed just two years later in 1985. Ownership of Benromach transferred to United Distillers in 1986.
In 1992 Benromach was sold to independent bottler Gordon & MacPhail (established 1895). Through the sale Gordon & MacPhail obtained the empty buildings (distillery and warehouses) and remaining stocks from UDV, but it would take six years for Benromach to resume production. All that was left in the empty buildings were the washbacks, so new equipment had to be installed throughout the distillery. Benromach was complete refurbished. This included the installation of two brand new stills, smaller than the ones removed after the closure.
Between 1907 and 1910 Benromach operated under the sole responsibility of Duncan McCallum under a new name; "Forres". Benromach was revived shortly after WWI, but fell silent again in 1931. Rumour has it that Benromach was the first distillery in Scotland to install direct oil firing under the stills in 1937.
In 1938 the Benromach distillery was purchased by Associated Scotish Distillers Ltd, a subsidiary of Train & McIntyre Ltd. (owned by National Distillers of America). In an ongoing process of concentration, Train & McIntyre were themselves purchased in 1953 by DCL.
But Derek admitted that buying their own distillery had been a valuable learning experience for Gordon & MacPhail as well. Their blending and bottling company had actually been founded three years before the Benromach distillery, but until they bought the (fairly run down) distillery they had no experience with the actual production side of whisky. Now they coud "learn on the job"...
Personally, I wasn"t blown away by their first "Traditional" in 2004, but the score of 75 points becomes much more impressive if you take into account that the whisky was only circa five years old - and the old 12yo bottling that was available in the 1990"s (shown above) scored 75 points as well... The 22yo Port Finish was a favourite of mine.
2004 - In May the "Benromach Traditional" is released; the first bottling that was distilled by the new owners.
2007 - Benromach is now the smallest operational distillery in the Speyside region.
Trivia:
- After Gordon & MacPhail bought the distillery in 1992 (some say 1993) it was completely refurbished; the only piece of original equipment kept in production was the spirit receiver.
- Apart from the spirit receiver, there"s another "antique" piece of equipment operational in the Benromach distillery. The cast iron "Boby mill" that is used to mill the malted barley into grist was constructed in 1913.
- Benromach is one of almost two dozen malt whisky distilleries that were founded during the "whisky boom" of the late 19th century and which have managed to survive until this day. The other survivors include Aberfeldy, Ardmore, Aultmore, Balvenie, Benriach, Bruichladdich, Bunnahabhain, Craigellachie, Dalwhinnie, Dufftown, Glendullan, Glenfiddich, Glen Moray, Glenrothes, Glentauchers, Knockandu, Knockdhu, Longmorn, Tamdhu and Tomatin. url="http://www.benromach.com"
from Malt Maniacs
The Owner: Gordon & MacPhail
| Established: 1895 |
| Silent since: False |
| Address: George House, Boroughbriggs Road, Elgin, Moray, Scotland IV30 1JY, UK |
| → website |
Just as his father had introduced him to the firm, so George brought in his own children. The oldest, Ian, joined in 1967, after having been trained in the wine and spirit trade in London and France. He was followed by David in 1972 and Michael in 1981. The former had studied business in Aberdeen; Michael is a Chartered Accountant. George"s daughter, Rosemary joined in 1990, after raising her family.
The family partnership became a limited company in the late 1970s, but ownership and management remained with the family, as it does to this day. George Urquhart died in 2001, five years before his grandsons Stephen Rankin and Neil Urquhart were appointed Associate Directors.
John Urquhart was joined by his son, George, and daughter, Betty, in 1933, and by another son, Gordon, in 1950. By this time the family firm held the largest range of bottled malt whiskies in the world. Most makes were unavailable elsewhere, since very few distillery owners bottled their own malts as singles - indeed, it is no overstatement to say that Gordon & MacPhail single-handedly kept the amber lamp of aged malt whisky burning during the post-war decades!
In the mid-1960s George Urquhart took the unprecedented step of launching a range of single malts from different distilleries under the brand name "Connoisseur"s Choice", and offered the range for sale in the rapidly expanding Italian, French, American and Dutch markets. This move laid the foundations for the significant interest in malt whisky in these countries that remains to this day.
Among the new shop"s first employees was John Urquhart, a lad of fifteen who was to serve his apprenticeship under the partners. He was an able learner, and before long was helping James Gordon to select and buy casks of malt whisky from local distilleries, and assisting with the creation of house blends for the firm"s customers around the north of Scotland. When J.A. MacPhail retired in March 1915, Urquhart became a partner in the business, and when James Gordon died suddenly only two weeks later, he became senior partner.
In parallel with the grocery side of the enterprise, John Urquhart developed the whisky broking business begun by James Gordon, and in particular began to specialise in single malt whiskies - bottling under license for famous distilleries such as Macallan, Glenlivet, Glen Grant, Linkwood and Mortlach. As part of this business he began to select and fill his own casks - almost always Spanish oak, ex-sherry casks - at these and other distilleries, and to mature his whiskies for much longer than was customary at the time.
On 24th May 1895, the Elgin Courant reported the opening "in New, Centrical, and Commodious Premises, No"s 38 and 40 South Street... a Family Grocers, Tea, Wine & Spirit Merchants". The founders of the firm were James Gordon and John Alexander MacPhail, and from the outset (as the newspaper reported) the stock was "personally selected", with a view to providing "a superior article at a popular price" and giving "the utmost satisfaction".
from Gordon & MacPhail