Review by: dustbunna
Distillery: Benromach.
Bottler: Distillery bottling.
Region: Speyside.
ABV: 58.2%.
Age: 11 years. Distilled in 2007. Bottled in 2018.
Cask type: 1st-fill ex-bourbon and ex-sherry vatting.
Price: $72 USD.
Natural Color. Non-chill-filtered.
Bottle open across approx. 10 months, notes taken leisurely across that period.
Nose: sticky toffee pudding, tobacco, root beer spices, red berries, a hint of coal smoke.
Palate: full-bodied and oily ~ forest floor, more toffee and red berries, pipe smoke, menthol, gunpowder, soppressata.
Finish: medium-long ~ quite dry, more smoke and menthol, clove, moss.
Conclusion: Delicious and captivating throughout. Benromach gives such a great balance of cask influence and distillate, I love what they’re doing with their spirit and cask management. This is probably my favorite batch tasted so far, but it’s an extremely tight grouping because these releases are quite consistent. One of those bottlings I’d be happy to replace immediately with another batch; it actually took me going through two bottles of this to write up notes for it, because I burned through the first one in just two months and had hoped to give it more time. Obviously I had no qualms about buying a second one (as is often the case, that lasted quite a bit longer, but didn’t give me anything too different in taste over time.)
Final Score: 87.
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.
Malt Runners 