Benromach tries to highlight some aspects of whisky making with their Contrasts series. In the past there have been variants between peated and unpeated malt, organic and non-organic barleys, and different strains of barley. Now, they wanted to highlight the difference between kiln dried oak and air dried oak that is used for the casks to mature the whisky in.

Being the whisky geek, I am very enthusiastic about things like this. Tasting whiskies is all nice, and I love that too, but trying to get the hang of what every little detail during the making of whisky does to the final product is something I think is really awesome. So, of course, I bought the pair of bottles when they came out, did a share with them and had the rest to myself.

Over the weekend I emptied both bottles and wrote tasting notes, so here we go!

Benromach Contrasts 10, 2012-2023, Air Dried Virgin Oak Barrel, 46%

Sniff:
A clear aroma of oak, in a rainy forest. Lots of leaves, branches. Fairly green but well balanced. A rather rich nose with hessian, ripe fruit with a whiff of smoke.

Sip:
The palate has some bite, a heavy flavor of mulch, forest floor, lots of fresh oak. Straw, hay, peat. Very Benromach, but very wood forward.

Swallow:
A dry finish, again lots of wood. Straw, hay, mulch, oak, twigs and branches. Very foresty, very ‘rainy’.

Benromach Contrasts 10, 2012-2023, Kiln Dried Virgin Oak Barrel, 46%

Sniff:
This, somehow, is more modern. Still woody, but less natural. Cleaner, with a simpler approach of oak. More room for barley and there’s a hint of copper.

Sip:
Quite punchy. Oak, pepper, straw, barley. Again, it has quite a different feel to it than the air dried one. It mellows rather late, but the hint of copper, pepper and some smoke linger. Almost Talisker-like.

Swallow:
The finish is rather lovely. Still wood forward with a modern, less engineered, less forced flavor. The pepper is gone, but the copper and barley are stronger

So, I think there is a clear difference between these two whiskies. I also have a clear preference for the air dried one. The kiln dried tastes a lot more modern, which is not a bad thing necessarily, but I prefer the slightly more rustic air dried casks.

The modernity shows itself in the slightly more harsh notes of oak, it feels a bit more forced upon the whisky than the air dried oak. The air dried oak comes across as more ‘mature’ and more gentle, in an old fashioned way.

It’s a very interesting thing to put these together and I really commend Benromach for doing this. I understand that air drying is far less efficient, but I would absolutely not mind distilleries taking this approach more often.

Air Dried: 87/100
Kiln Dried: 85/100