Benrinnes

BenrinnesSingle Malt Scotch Whisky

This was despite assorted deaths and bankruptcies for the various owners throughout the rest of the 19th century and a major fire in 1896 which necessitated major rebuilding work, at which time electricity was installed at the distillery.

Benrinnes was now owned by Alexander Edward, who also founded Craigellachie, Dallas Dhu and Aultmore, as well as buying Oban. Edward sold up to John Dewar & Sons in 1922, three years before Dewar's absorption by Distillers Company Ltd (DCL,now a part of Diageo). Control was transferred to DCL subsidiary Scottish Malt Distillers (SMD)in 1930. The distillery was completely rebuilt in the mid 1950s, anda Saladin box malting system was installed in 1964, running until 1984. The number of stills was increased from three to six in 1966.

Although it has long been highly prized by blenders -being one of a select few malts rated as 'first class' for blending purposes -Benrinnes was only officially bottled for the first time as a single malt in its own right in 1991, when Diageo forerunners United Distillers released a 15 year old expressionas part of the Flora and Fauna series. Along with a Rare Malts 21yo released five years later, this has been the only official bottling to date, with the vast majority of Benrinnes' malt going to blends. Independent bottlings are rare, but Gordon and Macphail have done a few under their Connoisseur's Choice label.