Benriach Smoke Season

Volume: 0.7 litres | Alcohol content: 52.8% | Chill filtration: No | Colouring: No

Special Features:

Smoke Season celebrates Benriach’s smoky production season. For this small-batch special edition, Master Blender Dr. Rachel Barrie developed a recipe that brings the distillery’s intensely smoky character to the fore.

The whisky matures in bourbon barrels and casks made from new American oak, known as virgin oak casks. This combination is designed to accentuate the sweet, toasted notes of the smoky spirit. Bottled at 52.8% alcohol, it is neither chill-filtered nor coloured. Its golden hue comes entirely from cask maturation.

Tasting Notes:

• Nose: On the nose, sweet caramel smoke and spicy oak notes meet citrus peel.
• Palate: On the palate, smoky, dark vanilla notes combine with seared apple and cinnamon. The flavour of roasted orange lingers and leads into the finish.
• Finish: Sweetness and smoke remain intertwined in the finish.

Distillery/Bottler:

John Duff founded Benriach in 1898 on the site of the former Riach farm in northern Speyside. The distillery was forced to close as early as 1900. Its floor maltings remained in operation, however, supplying malt to the neighbouring Longmorn distillery. Benriach did not resume whisky production until 1965.

In the early 1970s, Benriach once again began making some of its whisky from malt dried over Highland peat, reviving an older Speyside style. Today, its production encompasses unpeated, peated and triple-distilled spirits. Water from an aquifer deep beneath the distillery and a wide variety of maturation casks add to this diversity. As Master Blender, Dr. Rachel Barrie oversees the composition of the whiskies.

Facts: