
May 16, 2019

A flood of Benrinnes, Act Two

And so, we’re back, looking for more oleogustus. I suppose that new word is here to stay…

Benrinnes 20 yo ‘Time II’ (50%, The Whisky Exchange, bourbon, 280 bottles, +/-2017)

Benrinnes 20 yo ‘Time II’ (50%, The Whisky Exchange, bourbon, 280 bottles, +/-2017)
This baby came with a nice Racine quote on the label, ‘There are no secrets that time does not reveal’. You know, Jean Racine was that funny guy who also wrote, ‘It is fatal to live too long.’ May apply to whisky too ;-). Colour: pale straw. Nose: it’s a slightly fruitier one, but we’re well on white and yellow fruits, apples, greengages… Beneath that, some fern and other wild herbs and plants, some paraffin, some graphite oil, and some burnt vanilla cake, most certainly from the bourbon cask. With water: chalk, wool, vase water, porridge. Some barley involved, I suppose. Mouth (neat): indeed, it’s rather a fruitier one, but there is some chalk, some plasticine, and quite a lot of white pepper. More green apples, green walnuts (nocino), lemons, more lemons, even more lemons… With water: swims very well. Lemon juice and some sharp sauvignon blanc, perhaps Pouilly-Fumé. Finish: medium, waxier again. Plasticine and paraffine, with a drop of lime juice. Comments: love oleogustus (de gustibus etc…)
SGP:461 - 87 points.

Benrinnes 24 yo 1992/2016 (52.9%, Maltbarn, bourbon, 112 bottles)

Colour: straw. Nose: the same make, really, with chalk, plasticine, apple peels, sunflower oil, and just a touch of muscovado sugar. No need of a lot of literature. With water: even more austere, grassy and chalky. Mouth (neat): potent, even a tad hot, very peppery and waxy, with something reminiscent of engine oil and perhaps rubber. Lemon skins. With water: chalk, pepper and lemon. A bitter herbalness. Finish: rather long, pretty bitter. Cinchona, liquorice wood, grass… Comments: not a very easy one this time, but it’s still very good stuff. Not for sweet teeth, having said that…
SGP:372 - 83 points.

Benrinnes 14 yo 2004/2018 (55.4%, Cadenhead, Small Batch, 864 bottles)

Benrinnes 14 yo 2004/2018 (55.4%, Cadenhead, Small Batch, 864 bottles)
This one from three bourbon hogsheads. Let’s try to see whether it’s already the ‘new’ double-distilled juice or not. Colour: white wine. Nose: oh brilliant! Green pears and beeswax galore, then green gages and gooseberries, with touches of custard. A wonderful earthy barleyness behind that. Simple and efficient. With water: some distant peat. Mouth (neat): indeed, it tastes as if there was some ex-peater wood in the mix, not an unknown feeling at Cadenhead’s. Some sweet peat, as we sometimes say, lemons and apples, a little salt, some roots, some chalk yet again… We’re actually in peated HP territories here, more or less. With water: we’re almost in blended malt territories here. And that’s very good! Finish: long, peaty, brine-y, gently peppery, and lemony. Comments: not very Benrinnes, but certainly very good. They were not making peaters at Benrinnes in 2004, were they?
SGP:553 - 86 points.

Benrinnes 21 yo 1997/2019 (53.7%, Cadenhead, bourbon barrel, 162 bottles)

Colour: pale gold. Nose: and now for something very different yet again, some angelica and some wormwood to be found here, even woodruff, a bizarre Irishness (pot still), then wild herbs, autumn leaves, and rather shoe polish than plain wax. Gets then rather fermentary, on weizenbeer and other such liquid German delicacies. With water: exceptional fermentary development, on all things beers and ales. Mouth (neat): this is extremely good! Perfect peppery and lemony waxes, that is to say some textbook Benrinnesness this time. Olive and grape pips oils, lemon skin, grapefruits and citrons… This is pretty perfect. With water: indeed. Waxes and lemons, the perfect combination in my book. Finish: long, perfect, lemony, very straight. Comments: W/M. Cadenhead, I’ve been thinking about that Aston-Martin and have just changed my mind, the Mercedes engine would be okay. But may we get the manual gearbox? Thanks!
SGP:462 - 89 points.

Benrinnes 20 yo 1995/2018 (49.4%, La Maison du Whisky, Artist, hogshead, cask #9063, 279 bottles)

Remember they round-up the ages with this series. 10, 15, 20, 25… Indeed, French coquetry. Colour: light gold. Nose: a perfectly polished one this time, all on beeswax, pollen, mead, hazelnut cream, with touches of camphor and eucalyptus, some fresh brioche, and the faintest hints of mocha. A splendid nose. Mouth: amazing, more mineral than most others, more citrusy as well, with a lot of lemon marmalade, curd, lime blossom tea, citrons, perhaps a little seaweed, and the expected candlewax and straight paraffin. This no beat can. Finish: long, totally perfect, with that greasy meatiness that was to be found in these vintages. Tallow and such things. Green pepper in the aftertaste. Comments: a fabulous Benrinnes, with everything in place.
SGP:452 - 90 points.

Let’s try to find an earlier vintage just for the cause… Oh perhaps this older bottling?...

Benrinnes 23 yo 1980/2003 (53.9%, Blackadder, Raw Cask, cask #1352, 264 bottles)

Benrinnes 23 yo 1980/2003 (53.9%, Blackadder, Raw Cask, cask #1352, 264 bottles)
I don’t think I ever tried this baby… Colour: light gold. Nose: it is rather different, starting rather more medicinal than the others, that is to say rather on crushed aspirin tablets, embrocations, and even bandages. There’s quite some custard as well in the background, as well as notes of mown grass, fennel, celery, perhaps fresh lovage, and as always with Blackadder, whiffs of raw turnips. Of course I’m joking. With water: more aspirin, wet chalk… Mouth (neat): excellent, as waxy and oily as the others (as far as both texture and flavours are concerned), but rather earthier, with more plastics as well, and certainly a greasy meatiness. Some lemon too, which is welcome. With water: perhaps a little gentler, more on cereals… Some ideas of rye. Finish: medium, cereally. Grapefruit marmalade and rye bread. Comments: perhaps not as well-defined as more recent makes, but very good. Always nice to find some malt whisky that’s not wishy-washy (isn’t that the whole point here, S.?)
SGP:562 - 87 points.

Good, second part done, I would say. There may be a third Benrinnes session… or not, we shall see.

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