A little while ago a friend of mine (RvB) bottle-shared half his bottle and after someone got there first, I took the remaining 25cl.

Generally, Benromach is a very solid whisky that works very well with both bourbon and sherry casks. I’m not a huge fan of the wine casks, but that goes for most wine casks and not just Benromach’s.

Anyway, an 8 year old Benromach at high strength, from a sherry cask is a good thing. The distillery’s whisky works rather well at a young age. A sherry cask helps, not to take the edge off, but give it a bit more depth. The bourbon casks can be very sharp, at a similar ABV.

Image from RvB

Sniff:
Heavy leathery sherry, with some dried fruits like dates and prunes. The heavier stuff. There’s spices too, baking spices, with a lot of feinty notes. It’s very big on the nose. Fatty smoke, like barbecue marinade on the barbecue, without the meat.

Sip:
The arrival of the whisky is surprisingly smooth, but that doesn’t last very long. It gets very sharp swiftly, but more like 55% sharp instead of 60% sharp. It’s slightly lighter and drier than the nose made me expect. Leathery, lots of oak, very dry. Baking spices, some pine needles, shoe polish, dates.

Swallow:
The finish brings some heat initially, and leaves a rather warming sensation. The dryness is largely gone but the leather, fruit and slightly funky flavors linger. The smokiness lingers too and is still that fatty, greasy smoke.

I’m having a hard time describing the weight of the whisky and the feintiness/funkiness of it. This is very significant, and it reminds me of something that I can’t put my finger on. It has to do with leather and paint, so maybe a leather factory?

Anyway, it’s a rather great whisky and with it clocking in below 60 pounds makes this a very good buy if you’re up for a whack-in-the-face amount of alcohol. And sherry. A lot of sherry too. Highly recommended!

88/100

Benromach Peat Smoke 2010-2018, 1st Fill Sherry Hogshead, 6500 btls, 59.9%

It’s still available at the better whisky shops.