Benromach 10 Year Old 100 Proof

Great review. Truly astonishing indeed! This whisky has quickly become one of my favorite drams of all-time. It checks so many boxes (even the bourbon boxes!) and with such balance! With every pour of this juice, I am truly amazed at what G&M have produced, especially at such a tender age statement. Adding water, little by little, throughout the dram will change the character and amplify the experience tenfold; it takes water VERY well! I plan on purchasing 2-3 more bottles with my quarterly bonus this year.

This is a fantastic expression, and I think you really brought that out in your review. It's a shame that, when it was available in Ontario, it was woefully overpriced. For its quality, at approximately $85 in Nova Scotia it was almost a steal.

@Pierre_W I only have a dram of it but my experience was very close to yours. I bought a bottle and I am waiting to finish a few more bottles to open that one. If I remember correctly the only thing I had that you haven't mentionned is some leather or tobacco. Although those notes of leather and tobacco were not as beautiful as in last year version of Bunnahabhain 18 yo ( I did manage to get one that will be in my possession soon.

I find that you are palate is close to mine and would expect you to really like the Bunna 18. Great review by the way.

Thanks, guys, for your comments. I had had a dram of this before but was able to truly appreciate it only after I had bought a bottle. @KRB80, I have not much experimented yet with water, this might be something to further explore, thanks for this. @Robert99, I do like Bunnahabhain 18yo but have not yet properly explored it. A noble dram indeed! You are right: our palates seem to be quite alike.

@Pierre_W, thank you very much for another excellent review.

I feel like I am living in some sort of hermetically sealed parallel universe because I have not yet tasted either the Benromach 10 100 Proof or even the standard Benromach 10 yo. Well, there is something to which to look forward. Whenever I see a whisky about which much good is said and no one says anything bad, I know that that is one to try. It is quite difficult to displease no one.

@Victor THAT DOES IT! Next time you're here I am opening a bottle of the Ben 10/100. Hopefully I will have either some of my current bottle of standard Ben 10 for you to compare to (maybe I'll pour off a sample just in case) or another bottle (my BIL bought one but he tasted from mine and it's not his style).

I believe that I am speaking on behalf of many if I say that you will not be diappointed with this one, @Victor.

Bravo, @Nozinan! ...and thank you.

@Pierre_W, I would be extremely surprised if I were to be disappointed by the Benromach 10 100 Proof. Your recommendation alone would be reason to try it.

@Victor This became a must-have whisky when @Maltactivist posted his review and video a couple of years ago. It wasn't available in Canada at the time but sometime later my brother was passing through UK so he and his wife muled a couple of bottles over and the a friend later found a bottle in Nova Scotia.

If I had a limitless storage area (and funds) I would have a case of this in reserve. It's that good.

@Nozinan To that last statement: INDEED!

@Victor, you are too generous!

@Pierre_W I have one of these on the way. I love the regular 46% version and I am anxious to try the 100 Proof version. I have yet to see anything but great reviews for this one, including your excellent review.

Cheers.

@BlueNote I'd love to try the 46% version. Here in Ontario we only had the 100 proof and the 43% version. I think it must have been the KGBO taxing away 3%.

@Nozinan It's a great bang for the buck, even here in BC.

Haven't had this one but based on all of you and your glorious praise I'll have to seek it out. Wonder how available it is here in Nashville?

I'll just add my voice to the choir of praise in here. I really, really liked the Ben 10 @ 43%. I believe I rated it an 88/100 or 89/100. And seeing as I'm a big fan of higher strength offerings, I'd wager I would score this one at least a 90/100. Benromach is truly unique, as far as I'm concerned, and they're producing top quality juice. If I see some more at my local Ministry of Spirits commissary, I will purchase with extreme prejudice. Double-plus good.

@Pierre_W I just opened my bottle of Benromach 10/100 and I have to say that I didn't remember how big and beautiful is this malt. The malt is really giving a nice deep low note. I also love the dirt note, a note, I think, that would be better describe as potato skin before you give it the last wash.

@Victor You would love this malt.

@Robert99 I believe @Victor WILL (not would) love this malt. Yes, I'm being pedantic, but also optimistic.

This review reminds me how much I liked this one. I have an ever growing list but really should get another (or two) for the stash - along with the 10. Not just excellent malts, but excellent vfm too!

On a reassuring note, I spoke to a Benromach representative (well actually, he worked in the labs I believe) at a festival and he assured me that maintaining quality is paramount and that they have the kind of access to abundant fresh casks (due to the G&M ownership) that is envied across Scotland.

@RianC, can you tell us any more about their ready access to "abundant fresh casks"? From where?

As I mentioned elsewhere on connosr I tried my first Benromach the other day with the 43% 10 year old. I was very impressed with it and thought it was quite complex for a young abd reasonably priced whisky. I now want to try more of the Benromach range. Can't decide whether to get this 100 proof 10 year old or the 15 year old next?

Recomiendo el 10/100 ... oops

I recommend the 10/100.

Same opinion as @Nozinan: go for the 100 Proof. The 15yo is decent enough, but the 100 Proof is of a different kind altogether.

@Nozinan Being French Canadian, you have to be more explicit if you are giving me a grammar explanation or if you are making a comment with your change of verb tense. I passed a five minutes studying both sentences and I am still not sure so I don't know how to react.

@Robert99, both your hypothetical subjunctive mood verb form and @Nozinan's indicative mood future tense verb form are correct and expressing two separate ideas. @Nozinan is merely forecasting the actual event as being guaranteed in the future, and no longer a hypothetical.

@Robert99 It was a reference to the thread started by one of our most recent members in Spanish, to which I had replied just before that post.

@Nozinan, I think that @Robert99 is referring to your one post prior to that one.

@Victor HA ! I see now. Yes, you are correct. I was predicting as fact that I will open my bottle the next time you and taste together.

But now that I think about it, you HAVE tasted this:

connosr.com/epic-tastings-whisky-discussio…

4th comment on the page.

@Nozinan, hhhmmm, I hope that I tasted the Benromach 10/100, but I do not remember it. I will need to taste it again.

@Nozinan I was trying to make kind of a prank but the joke is on me.

@Victor That can be arranged...

@MadSingleMalt - Sorry for the late reply, only just saw this.

I was chatting to the fella for a good twenty minutes whilst unashamedly gushing about the quality of the 10, 10/100 and the 15 that I was sipping at that time (which I shall open a bottle of at xmas!)

I was asking about their production methods and how they seemed to be able to produce such quality and flavourful whisky at such a young age compared to other distilleries (I was polite, I think!?). The 15 was like nothing I'd tried before but was soooo good! He put it down to their distillery methods; slow run, quality ingredients, dunnage warehousing etc etc but primarily highlighted the quality and availability of casks that they have. They are owned by independent bottlers Gordon and Macphail and as such have access to a large stash of quality casks in a way that few distilleries in Scotland do. Unless ownership of the distillery changes, or they decide to tweak things for the worse, BR should be maintaining the quality they produce for years to come.

That, I'm sure, is music to many malt heads' ears but it also highlights a big issue in the Scotch industry which will only get worse - that of sourcing enough quality casks to meet demand. It also shows, to me at least, just how important casks are to the final product . . .

I asked about the 5 year old (which was his favourite apparently) but they have decided to cease production on that one, I can't remember why though, shame.

I also have a Peat Smoke in my stash - I think I love Benromach

Hey @RianC, good stuff there on the quality at Benromach.

I still wonder, though, what the root of all that is. Does G&M have a sherry bodega they partner with exclusively, or something along those lines?

And I think that Benromach love is contagious, and extremely virulent! I caught it myself from very limited contact. I've never gone through a bottle myself, yet I have the following in my stash:

•The 10/100, based on its reputation.

•The standard 10, because if you have the 10/100 then you gotta have the standard too to compare!

•The NAS Traditional (which preceded the 5), because they let me taste it in Binny's and I was pretty impressed for its price.

•The Peat Smoke, because I heard good things. It's been in my stash forever, but I finally tasted it this month at a bar and I was very impressed! Delicious young peat in the mold of Longrow CV.

Opinions on the 15 seem more divided, but it sounds like you're a big fan. Duly noted. I'll probably, you know, drink one or two before I decide to buy any more, but when I do, I'll keep that 15 in mind.