
September 10, 2018

New Benromach and X

There is a new brand new official expression, but oh utter horror, I haven’t got any other as-of-yet-untasted Benromach under the elbow. I guess we’ll have to find something else as the obligatory sparring partner.

Benromach 1998/2018 ‘Cask No.1’ (60.1%, OB, sherry butt, 575 decanters)

Benromach 1998/2018 ‘Cask No.1’ (60.1%, OB, sherry butt, 575 decanters)
This new baby to celebrate the twentieth anniversary of the restart of Benromach Distillery. I find the decanter very lovely. Colour: gold. Nose: it’s farmy and even humussy at first, wild, roasted, earthy, tobacco-y, then more on dry sherry, rather fino than oloroso in this case (but I doubt it’s fino). It reminds me of what Jerezian coopers had told us, that G&M (and so Benromach, I suppose) always insist on getting casks with the bungholes on the side, and not those more economical palletizable casks with the holes in the heads. You see what I mean. With water: there’s a whole forest in this glass. Dried ceps, moss, pine cones, walnuts… This is quite exceptional. Mouth (neat): very strong, but I do find something wonderfully sherry-ish indeed. Perhaps ham with honey, walnuts and balsamic vinegar? I think this is exceptional indeed, but rather tongue-numbing. Ha, that’s the high strength. With water: this works so well! I think it isn’t very easy to strike a perfect balance when some characterful distillate such as new Benromach is filled into bold sherry casks, but this time that just worked beautifully. Big, big whisky, though. Finish: very long, with added touches of cedar wood, marmalade, soy sauce and bitter chocolate. Comments: big and very high-class. Careful with water though, do not go down to 40-45% vol. or, as usual with this kind of style, it could become a little too tannic.
SGP:462 - 90 points.

Good, to find a proper sparring partner… Not an easy task… Perhaps this one, as the name starts with ‘Ben’ as well?...

Ben Nevis 27 yo 1990/2018 (58.9%, Le Gus’t, Port pipe, cask #5, 736 bottles)

Another Ben Nevis by these excellent wee French bottlers in Provence. I’ve heard they might do a Pastis finish sooner or later (of course I’m joking). Colour: almost pink, so possibly a finishing. Nose: I’m not finding too much cassis or raspberry, neither am I finding SO2, rather notes of red peaches and cherry cake (we call that clafoutis) on top of quite a lot of pipe tobacco. Reminds me a bit of that crazy thing we were smoking when we were having pipes in the 1970s (no, not that!), Borkum Riff Cherry Cavendish. With water: meaty and a little sour. Raspberry vinegar, perhaps? It is a little acetic. Mouth (neat): it’s a very rich thing, that’s for sure. You do find a Ben-Nevisness, but I don’t think you’d have found it, should you have tried this blind. A flinty side and rather a lot of leather and tobacco, plus these big bold cherries. A few drops of raspberry eau-de-vie too. With water: a wee flinty side now, orange skins, cranberry juice, rosehip tea… Finish: long and rather sweet and sour. Some kind of Indian sauce – love them all but I always forget the names. Rather chocolate in the aftertaste, fruit ganache et al. Comments: something different. Not exactly my cup of malt, but it’s unusual and intriguing enough to make me really like it. Yeah.
SGP:652 - 84 points.

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