A small sample I wanted to taste to this one checked off in Ian Buxton’s 101. I never expected anything from this, in my book rather low profile, distillery. It is owned by Gordon & MacPhail, the bottler, and they revived after 10 years of silence in 1993 and have been running it since. This might have well been my first Benromach ever, and when I get my laptop running again I will certainly check that!

Nose:
It starts off rather heavy but lightens quickly. Not at all like the young whisky I expected. Thick grain and cereal with some farm notes. Old wrinkly lemon and wet wood.

Taste:
Again, fairly heavy but full of farm stables with wet hay and a grain storage.

Finish:
The finish is quite a bit lighter than the flavour was. It has some strangeness to it that I can barely pinpoint, but in a good way.

I expected a much lighter, more spirity dram. I didn’t find that but what I found, I did like. The farm notes are something that always do good with me and the only thing betraying its age are the rather malty grain notes that keep popping up. Not a bad thing, mind you!

Benromach Organic, for sale at Master of Malt and my other retailers. I honestly don’t have a clue which version this is. There is a regular and several special editions.