Hi everyone,
Benromach being closed from 1983 to 1998 presents a bit of problem for Gordon & MacPhail, as they don’t really have any older whisky and what they do have is much, much older. The style would also be different as G&M put in some new smaller stills, giving a different character.
But they have released some of the stuff from the early 80’s including these little gems. The price isn’t toooo ridiculous really, considering that Bladnoch released a 29 year old for £5000 recently…
Benromach 35 43%
Colour: Amber
Body: Medium
Nose: Deep Sherry, earthy leather, chocolate, praline, sweet stewed fruit, very balanced, polished wood, antique shop, chocolate shop.
Taste: Soft and structured, acidic red apple, oak, recedes and comes back, ash, praline, fudge, very acidic orange juice.
Finish: Medium length. Many chocolates and fudges, creamy.
I have actually tried this before, but only very briefly from a shot glass. The red apple is bit too acidic on the taste. This is great stuff but I feel like its just a tad over the hill. Let’s try and fix that by turning back time 5 years…
83/100
Benromach 30 (Old Bottling) 43%
Colour: Amber
Body: Medium
Nose: Lighter and fresher than the new 35 but the same mould. Fresh acidic red apple, very good Sherry casks, dark chocolate, great balance.
Taste: Sweet, soft, honey, lacking power for one brief moment then chocolate, velvety oak, Sherry, raisin, leather, salty, wonderful dried cherry. Oak into the finish.
Finish: Medium/Long length. Tingling on the tongue, lots of acidic red apple, then praline.
Fantastic stuff, better than the new 35 although it's probably the same batch of casks. The equal of the 1980 G&M I had a while back. It was probably a lot cheaper too…
87/100
Distillery: Benromach
Average Score: 77.9
Distillery Ranking: 19th/ 65 places
Up/Down: 29>19 (Up 10)
Thanks for reading!
Scotch Reviews #643-#644
Whisky Network Reviews #766-#767
Network Average: 74.9
Best Score: 94
Worst Score: 12
0-49 Terrible
50-59 Bad
60-64 Just About OK
65-69 Ok to Good
70-74 Good
75-79 Very Good
80-84 Excellent
85-89 Superb
90+ Magnificent
Full Disclosure Disclaimer: I currently work as a Brand Ambassador for Penderyn Distillery. The views expressed here are purely my own and do not reflect the views of Penderyn Distillery or The Welsh Whisky Company. I try to maintain as much objectivity as I can but feel free to take my reviews with as big a pinch of salt as you like. Furthermore, my rating scale is NOT based on a Parker type wine scoring scale or a school/college/university % or A-F grade score. You can find more on my scoring here. I apologise for any seemly low or 'bad' scores given with my system and I am sorry I can't say only nice things. Please keep in mind that I am ethically compromised and I am unable to produce 100% unbiased reviews.
No comments:
Post a Comment