Benriach is a distillery firmly on the up after an unusual and occasionally difficult past. The distillery was built just a stone's-throw from Longmorn by the latter's owner John Duff in 1898 - just months before the disastrous Pattison crash, which put the entire Scotch whisky industry in peril. Many distilleries owed money by the Glasgow ble ... Read More »
Curiositas is the hugely popular 10 year-old peated malt from the recently-revitalised Benriach distillery. One of the few overtly peated Speyside malts, and definitely one to try for phenol fans. Web-Exclusive Price!
Birnie Moss is a new heavily-peated NAS expression of BenRiach, presumably to take a crack at the 'Impecunious Peathead' market currently occupied by the likes of Ardmore Traditional and Smokehead. And Compass Box Peat Monster, whose bottle they've nicked.
As the name suggests, this is a peated Benriach that's been finished in a rum cask. Dolium volvitur, if you'll pardon the pun. Received 91 points from Jim Murray (caveat emptor), who made it sound pretty tasty. Apologies for the poor Latin jokes, Mercator aliquantulus dementis.
In these heady days of myriad new releases and silly Latin names it's easy to forget the sorry state BenRiach was in for the last few years of Seagram's stewardship, with the only available bottling being the execrable old 10 year-old. The turnaround in this distillery's fortunes has been remarkably swift: full marks to the new owners.
Along with Importanticus Fumosus and Aromaticus Fumosus, this was part of a series of peated Benriachs finished in different wood types - in this case, Pedro Ximinez sherry casks have been used.
Benriach is a terrific malt from a distillery that has really shot up after years of Seagram neglect. This delicious easy-drinking 16yo is a complex all-rounder - recommended. Web-Exclusive Price!