BenRiach Sherry Wood 12 Year

Benriach tasting evening, Sydney, June 24 2019. Whisky #1 Nose: Sherry, but with a slightly drying quality, vanilla (lots of vanilla), fragrant cereal, sawdusty aromatic oak, resinous oak, golden syrup, marzipan. Palate: Initially soft but instantly flashing into a hot and spicy arrival with a sharp, almost vinegar quality! Ginger, white pepper and chilli turn up quickly afterwards in the early development and remain throughout the palate. After a while some grape flavours are noticeable. With water some dark toffee notes emerge and the grape notes morph into dried fruits. There is a nutty quality as well (walnuts, hazelnuts). Finish: Medium. Grape, cereal and a slightly bitter spicy aftertaste. After a hiatus of three years BenRiach restored the 12 year sherried expression to the core range, however this is quite different to the old version - sufficiently so as to warrant a new entry here on Distiller. The wood management has changed, but in a rather confusing manner. The old version was fully matured in oloroso and PX casks - simple enough. This new version rests in "sherry wood" (whatever that means) and is then finished in oloroso and PX casks. I'm assuming that a lack of casks means they have expanded their stock by re-coopering barrels that once held a variety of sherries. The dry profile of this dram certainly hints at some fino and amontillado presence. I shiver to imagine what the new make of this whisky would have been like. It must have been ferociously hot, because after 12 years of conditioning this is still quite brutal on first acquaintance. It does modulate with time ... but only a little and water is really essential to tame it. Dilution brings out pleasant cereal aromas on the nose, quietens the resinous oak, and develops brown sugar aromas. It also softens the palate considerably - the white pepper spice remains but the chilli note is muted and it develops a pleasant earthy quality. In comparison to the earlier 12 year old (which was generally popular but also not without its faults) this is different, but similar enough to be given the same rating. "Above Average" : 81/100 (3 stars)

Nose: Chocolate, cherries, orange peel, orchard fruit Palate: Vanilla, summer berries, fig jam, dark chocolate cherries. Quite a 'hot' dram. Finish: Short finish. Ginger, baking spices, leather and wood. This is a session dram. Chocolatey and pretty tasty, but quite hot on the palate. Easy to drink but just a little too hot to be a regular quaffing whisky. Easy drinking, 'though.

The nose is already too much, the palate begins well but soon turns furry, the finish makes the dominating sherry even worse. 21-20-18-19=78

Nose: Vanilla, sweet green fresh grass Palate: Floral, savory, cereal Finish: Quite long and sweet

Rich flower and Sherry character from the nose, Lighter than Glendronach 12, Kind of sweetness

구형 향 : 풋사과, 가벼운데 강한 심지가 있는 쉐리향, 맛 : 드라이, 꿀물, 쉐리와 나무껍질의 쓴맛, 스파이시, 매움 피니쉬 : 짧음, 쌉쌀함, 약간의 타바코