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Release Notes
BenRiach is located in Scotland's Speyside region and was owned by Seagrams until 2002, when it was mothballed and later sold to what is now called the BenRiach Group. In the early '80s, it was a laboratory for Seagrams, which experimented with peated expressions and various cask-aging methods. This is one of those rarities. This is a Pedro Ximenez sherry barrel-aged, peated whisky of 27 year old maturity with the same integration of richness and smoke that one finds in old Islay malts or the legendary peated Brora. In fact, we were so floored by the quality we thought it was better than some of the older Lagavulins and Broras we had tasted. "No one is going to believe us if we talk that way," we said, but the truth couldn't be denied. This whisky is phenolic, oily, briny, supple, chewy, rich, raisined and smoky. It hangs with the great aged island malts, but is priced far below them. Destined to become a classic.
David Driscoll, K&L
This is a K&L exclusive single barrel cask strength bottling of a 27 year old BenRiach single malt finished off in Pedro Ximenez Sherry Cask #1049. This is bottle #7 of 246 bottledin September of 2012.
Yours Truly
3rd Party Tasting Notes
n: gentle, soft, toffee-apple combines witha soft, rich oak-smoke reek
t: a super-soft chocolaty mouth dances with a burst of smoked vanilla and sherried raisins
t: a super-soft chocolaty mouth dances with a burst of smoked vanilla and sherried raisins
From the Bottle's Case
Regular Tasting Results
The Distillery: BenRiach
| Established: 1898 |
| Silent since: False |
| Address: Longmorn, Elgin, Morayshire, IV30 3SJ, Scotland, UK |
| → website |
2002 - After Pernod Ricard bought Chivas Brothers (owners of Benriach) in 2001 they didn"t waste a lot of time... Just one year after the purchase they decided to mothball the Benriach distillery in October 2002.
The Benriach distillery is located near Elgin in the "Lossie" part of Speyside, just inbetween Linkwood and Longmorn. It was built in 1898 by John Duff, who had constructed the Longmorn distillery a year earlier. Unfortunately, financial problems forced him to sell both distilleries soon afterwards.
But why was Benriach closed so soon after it was built in 1898? John Duff, founder of Longmorn and Benriach (a.k.a. Longmorn #2) was one of many whisky entrepreneurs to suffer from the effects of "The Pattison whisky Crisis". During the late 19th century there was a massive whisky boom and during the 1890"s no less than 33 new distilleries (21 in Speyside alone) were opened to meet the growing demand. It all came crashing down in 1899 when major players Pattison"s Ltd. from Leith went into liquidation. Their bankrupcy caused the bubble to burst and infected the industry.
This caused Benriach to be closed down between 1900 and 1965. Recent bottlings of older casks of Benriach (both by the new owners and a few independent bottlers) have proven to me that Benriach has always been a hidden gem; all it needed was some attention to detail to bring out the beauty that"s stashed away in their warehouses. I imagine that some fabulous casks were simply vatted into oblivion during the 1990"s. Although Benriach has a maximum production capacity of 2,800,000 litres of pure alcohol per year, only a third of this capacity was used around 2005. Around 2008 they already produced some 1,800,000 litres of alcohol per year, and they expect to increase production further in the foreseeable future. Well, that means that they still have potential for growth without having to invest in extra equipment in the near future...
The new owners wasted no time. They resumed production again in the very same year and launched 12, 16 and 20 year old expressions of Benriach. They also took the opportunity to redesign the company logo and the packaging of the bottles. The picture at the left shows the new Benriach labeling - more informative and easier on the eyes than the design they used in the 1990"s, shown at the right.
They followed these initial releases with an ever expanding line of special releases like the peated "Curiositas". When Benriach was owned by Seagram, the distillery also produced some batches of more peated malt whisky. The "Curiositas" contains some of this peated whisky. Some "whisky fundamentalists" don"t like the fact that a Speyside distillery produces an "Islay style" whisky, but a 10yo 1994/2005 bottling from Signatory that I"ve tried at PLOWED HQ during Feis Ile 2005 was excellent. In fact, I think it was actually superior to some independent Islay bottlings of a similar age. And let"s not forget that the use of (at least some) peated malt was actually not that uncommon in the Highlands and Speyside in the past.
Benriach was purchased by the Longmorn Distillery Co Ltd. who promptly decided to close it again in 1900. After remaining silent for more than half a century, Benriach was eventually sold again and rebuilt by new owners; The Glenlivet Distilleries Ltd. in 1965. They sold Benriach on to Seagram in 1977, who went on to install a second set of stills (wash & spirit) in 1985. Seagram"s didn"t introduce their own official bottling until 1994 - and to be perfectly honest the 10 years old OB from the 1990"s didn"t tickle my fancy.
Chivas bought Benriach in 2001, but closed the distillery again in 2002, almost immediately after they acquired it - just like Longmorn Distillers had done more than a century earlier. It would almost seem like Benriach (meaning "speckled mountain") doesn"t inspire a lot of confidence in its owners... Fortunately, Benriach was reopened again in 2004 by yet another new owner. Scotsman Billy Walker (a former operations manager with Burn Stewart) and two South African partners (Geoff Bell and Wayne Kieswetter) purchased the Benriach distillery in 2004. They did a remarkable job and turned Benriach into one of the "hottest" distillerries.
Even though the flying re-start of Benriach was only a few years ago, they are already able to offer a portfolio with a wide variety of whisky styles and types. They have the "classic" Speyside style, lightly peated malts, heavily peated malts & various wine finishes. And that isn"t all - they also have some small quantities of triple-distilled Benriach. Some of this was produced by Chivas back in 1998 and the new owners also ran a small trial in February 2007. Both vintages were filled into first fill bourbon casks, although they plan to re-rack the 1998 into 2nd fill sherry casks for a period of time. Release date is currently unknown.
In the new Millenium
2004 - Benriach was revived when Intra Trading purchased the distillery. People involved are Scotsman Billy Walker (former operations manager with Burn Stewart) and two South African partners (Geoff Bell and Wayne Kieswetter).
2006 - Benriach releases over a dozen new bottlings; most of them vintages, but a 25yo and a 30yo as well. It remains to be seen if they have enough stocks of old casks lying around to maintain the profile of these bottlings between consecutive batches. The Benriachians seem confident; they also released a 40yo bottling in 2007.
Trivia:
- Although the Benriach distillery itself was mothballed between 1900 and 1965, its floor maltings remained in constant production during this period. They provided malted barley for the nearby Longmorn distillery. They were closed in 1999 but if all went according to plan they were restored to their former working glory in 2008.
- When the new owners took over they "tweaked" the name from Benriach to BenRiach.
- The stills at BenRiach are said to be exact replica"s of the original stills of 1898.
- The barley varieties "Optic" and "Callar" are used to produce the BenRiach malt whisky.
- BenRiach 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, Benromach, Bruichladdich, Bunnahabhain, Craigellachie, Dalwhinnie, Dufftown, Glendullan, Glenfiddich, Glen Moray, Glenrothes, Glentauchers, Knockandu, Knockdhu, Longmorn, Tamdhu and Tomatin.
from Malt Madness
The Owner: BenRiach Distillery Company
| Established: 2003 |
| Silent since: False |
| Address: Glenbervie Business Park, Larbert, Stirlingshire FK5 4RB, UK |
| → website |
In 2008 BenRiach Distillery Co.Ltd. purchased Glendronach distillery once again from Pernod Ricard"s Chivas Brothers.
The company also produces 2 export-only blended Scotch Whisky brands: Clan Murray and Glen Bervie.
BenRiach Distillery Co.Ltd. was founded by Scotch whisky industry veteran Billy Walker and South African Intra Trading (Geoff Bell and Wayne Keiswetter). The consortium bought the mothballed Benriach distillery from Pernod-Ricard"s Chivas Brothers in 2004 and reopened it under the slightly tweaked name "BenRiach".
from The Internets