Benriach 1990 / 18 Year Old

N: Honey initially, with wet turf in the background.  Some orangey citrus notes developing, with the fruit becoming more exotic with aeration.  A pleasant earthiness, and some blackberry, apple and briar aromas emerge later.  A silky malt presence throughout.  Eventually some creamy chocolatey notes appear.  Extremely promising.

P: As with the nose, sweetness first - then a big surge of peat.  Immensely powerful presence in the mouth, with bonfire smoke, honey and a lot of pepper and hot spices jostling for attention.  A real maelstrom of flavours.

F: Long, long, lingering warmth, with the smoke alternating between coal and wood, and the spices rattling along nineteen-to-the-dozen on a bed of sweet malt.

C:  You can probably tell that I like this one a lot.  An epic dram.  It really beggars belief that Seagram managed to make such an arse of this distillery at a time when it was producing such tremendous spirit.  Thank God for the more enlightened new owners and management.  If they're sitting on a bunch of casks like this we are all in for a treat, and BenRiach will be re-established in the pantheon of the very best Speyside distilleries.