BenRiach 10
Today, there’s a whisky from the very heart of Speyside in my glass. The BenRiach distillery has a lot to offer, when it comes to distillery bottlings. The BenRiach 10 had been matured in ex-borbon and ex-sherry casks, without artificial colouring and also withou chill-filtration. Suits me 😉
BanRiach 10
BenRiach means „Speckled Mountain”
Scotch Single Malt
Region: Speyside
aged 10 years
43% ABV
Unpeated
Matured in ex-Bourbon barrels and ex-Sherry Oloroso casks
Un chill filtered
Color: amber, natural – without caramel
Tasting notes
Nose: typical Speysider. Beautiful, intense, noticeable Sherry, raisins, honey, caramel, wood, malted barley, ripe apples, yellow plums, almonds. A little floral … you can feel quite strong alcoholic note, which is rather surprising, because it’s a 43% ABV dram, which aged 10 years. Most in ex-sherry casks. They must have been refilled, otherwise the alcohol would be better hidden, but the price would also be higher. I recommend to wait about 10 minutes and it gets better. 20/25
Palate: espresso, roasted buckwheat, honey, plum butter, caramel, marjoram, grapes, baked apples. Too much is not happening here – it is not a Sherry Monster, but all of these flavors harmonize nicely and create a pretty intense bouquet. After adding a few drops of water, chocolate appeares in the taste. Very nice. Alcohol is not well hidden but it tastes pretty good. 21/25
Finish: dark-brown caramel, maple syrup, cocoa, chocolate-liquor candies, sweet Sherry. Not harsh, but slightly warming up and quite long. 21/25
Balance: it’s a pretty casual Whisky. Good enough to watch sport, or some interesting movie, at which we will not especially want to inquire what kind of a „masterpiece of the art of maturation” we have in our glass. Honestly, I was expecting more from this Single Malt, but I would lie if I wrote that I was disappointed. 20.5 / 25
Overall: 82.5 / 100
Other opinions
Ralfy (2017): 88/100
Serge (2017): 82/100
Price: approx. EUR 32
A level close to Bushmills 10, or Glenmorangie 10 Original
It is difficult for me to state unequivocally whether to recommend this Whisky or not. There’s something I miss here … maybe extra two years in a barrel? However, it’s quite solid malt after all. No need to complain.
More pictures here
