FACTS
The 1890's represented a boom period in distillery development in Scotland and in 1898, BenRiach distillery was built by John Duff, on the same grounds as Longmorn distillery, in the North-East region of Morayshire. Unfortunately, in 1900, the whisky industry suffered a crash resulting in the closure of many distilleries, including BenRiach. Although their floor maltings remained in constant production, to supply Longmorn, it wasn't until 1965 that the distillery re-opened.
With a growth in demand for Scotch whisky in the US, the 1960's saw another boom period for the whisky industry and also the re-opening of BenRiach distillery by Glenlivet Distillers Ltd. In 1972, BenRiach began producing peated malt, a style which it still produces today, along with its unpeated styles. In 1978, it was purchased by Seagrams who stepped up production and by 1985, had doubled the number of stills from two, to four. Although the distillery was open for many decades, it was only in 1994 that they released their first single malt, a 10 year old 'The BenRaich', limited to just a few hundred cases a year.
Seagrams was acquired by Pernod Ricard in 2001 and production was reduced to just three months of the year. It was mothballed in 2002. In 2004, the distillery was acquired by an independent consortium lead by Billy Walker. Production began immediately leading to an almost uninterrupted inventory and the release of 5 new bottlings namely, the No Age Statement 'Heart of Speyside', a 12, 16 and 20 year old and a 10 year old peated whisky, Curiositas.
From this point, the distillery grew from strength to strength. It won 'Whisky Distiller of the Year' at the Icons of Whisky awards in 2009; it filled ten thousand casks of single malt in one year in 2011; in 2012, it restored its malting floors and starting its own maltings, and achieved the award of 'Global Whisky Distiller of the Year' at the 2015 Icons of Whisky Awards. With all it's success, The BenRiach was taken over by Brown-Forman Corporation in 2016 along with The GlenDronach and Glenglassaugh distilleries with Dr. Rachel Barrie being the Master Blender for all three distilleries.
Whisky/ Year: The BenRiach 15 year Dark Rum Wood Finish (2006)
Whisky Type: Single Malt
Distillery/Owner: The BenRiach Distillery (Brown-Forman Corporation)
Country/Region: Scotland (Speyside)
Cask Type: Bourbon (Rum Cask Finish)
Age: 15 Years Old
ABV: 46%
Chill Filtration: No
Natural Colour: Yes
Price: R1200 / $90 / £65 (Discontinued)
TASTING NOTES
Colour:
Pale Straw / Pale Gold
Nose:
Starts off sweet and is very mild and buttery leading to a sensation of creaminess. There's a banana note. Not fresh banana but rather dried and sweetened banana chips. This leads into more tropical fruit notes of papaya and a touch of pineapple. There's a pepper zing in the nose too, along with some mild spices
Palate:
The mouthfeel is quite viscous even though the whisky is light and fluffy in nature. It's also rather mouth-watering and juicy with not only some tropical fruit notes but also those of dried apple and pear. There's certainly a whack of vanilla and coconut in there too
Finish:
Short to medium in length with a peppery tingle and a light fruitiness
P.S.
The BenRiach 15 year old Dark Rum Wood Finish is the lightest of the four whiskies in the Wood Finish Series, in both colour and style (the other three in the seres being the PX Sherry, Tawny Port and Madeira finishes). It is delicate and you can most certainly detect the Rum influence. It's not my favourite of the series and far from the best BenRiach but it does hold its own and provides something interesting in a time when many whiskies are just plain bland.
SCORE: 7/10
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