BenRiach 20 Year (1997) Single Cask #4437 Marsala Hogshead

Review by: The Muskox

I’ve only tried a small number of Marsala-cask whiskies, and I’m still on the fence about whether I like them or not. The bottlings I have enjoyed have paired the Marsala casks with a rich and robust spirit. Let’s see if the light and fruity BenRiach distillate can hold up.

Distillery: BenRiach.

Bottler: Official bottling.

Region: Speyside.

ABV: 54.8%, cask strength.

Age: 20 years old. Distilled on 11/25/1997. Bottled in 2018.

Cask type: Cask #4437, a Marsala hogshead.

Color: Amber. No colour added, un-chillfiltered.

Nose: Spicy and fruity-sweet. Quite Marsala-y. Juicy tangerines, or maybe a tangerine fruit cup. Dried mango, apricots, and cherries, too. Cinnamon syrup, ginger beer, and vanilla ice cream. Rich brown sugar, toffee, candied nuts, and glazed pastries. Subtle woodsy and herbal notes sit underneath – mild mint, licorice root, walnuts, and pine forest.

Palate: Medium texture, fairly hot and very sweet throughout. Arrives with dried apricots, sticky buns, and pralines. Loads of rum-soaked dried fruit, then getting tangier and tropical. Spicy, sugar-coated oak notes in the middle. Nutty and slightly dusty.

A little drip of water brings out some of those herbal notes, as well as Fuzzy Peaches.

Finish: Medium-length and sweet. Spicy ginger and brown sugar. More tangerine, mango, and plum. Chocolate orange and vanilla bean.

Alternative SMWS bottling name: “Sicily-sicle”

Notes: Super sweet Marsala cask and not much else. I tend to get a mix of sweet and herbal notes in Marsala-matured whiskies, but this one leans much more heavily to the sweet side. It’s actually fairly similar in form to the port-cask BenRiach I tried last week: cask dominant, very sweet, very straightforward, and good but not great. This whisky is maybe a bit hotter than the port-cask, but has a longer finish. They’re pretty close.

Final Score: 79.

Scoring Legend:

  • 95-100: As good as it gets. Jaw-dropping, eye-widening, unforgettable whisky.
  • 90-94: Sublime, a personal favorite in its category.
  • 85-89: Excellent, a standout dram.
  • 80-84: Quite good. Quality stuff.
  • 75-79: Decent whisky worth tasting.
  • 70-74: Meh. It’s definitely drinkable, but it can do better.
  • 60-69: Not so good. I might not turn down a glass if I needed a drink.
  • 50-59: Save it for mixing.
  • 0-49: Blech.

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