Benriach 16 Year Old

At the end of 2020 BenRiach announced they would give the core-range a completely new look – and a new recipe. Well, I would very much like to find out more, but before I do that I wish to acclimatize my taste buds with this 16 years old BenRiach from 2014. It’s from an era where ‘matured in oak casks’ was all you could find on the label. It has been ten years since I last tasted their 16 years old, imagine that.

The nose is sweet and sour on hazelnuts and grapefruit, sweet malt and a truckload of milk chocolate. Hint of toast with a thin layer of honey on top. Slowly it becomes more sweet on apricot pie. Good.

The body is light, but not watery. Citrus fruit kicks in first (grapefruit and oranges) followed by a nice spiciness. Think ginger, liquorice and white pepper. There is no doubt that some sherry matured malt went into the mix, for I also get apricots, raisins and cloves. A hint of woodsmoke. Keeps getting better and surpasses the nose.

The finish is medium long, sweet and a touch boozy, if you know what I mean.

Ah, this is still a very good whisky, isn’t it? Very satisfying. Thanks for the sample, Benny.

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