BenRiach Cask Strength – Batch 1 – 57.2% abv

Info: In March BenRiach released its first Cask Strength, Batch 1 bottling. This finally draws a parallel with it’s sister distillery GlenDronach which has been releasing great Cask Strength editions for some time now.
Colour: Gold, perfectly golden in fact, lovely natural colour.
Nose: Powerful, gently sweet, dusty, slightly herbal, rather lovely. Classic speyside, of the slightly older style.
Palate: Nice, thick and oily, fab stuff. Quite powerful, but bear with it, you soon get used to the strength. There’s a good pinch of spices, plenty of malt, and a fair amount of stewed fruits with a dollop of cream.
Finish: As expected for a cask strength malt, the finish lasts for ages, leaving lots of oils on your palate and plenty of malt lingering around.
Water: This is a good dram without water… that said, a slug of water works really well for me, it makes it really really easy to drink while not losing any of it’s flavour, in fact it releases a little more flavour as it becomes more accessible. It also makes it go further!
Thoughts: I am a big fan of BenRiach, and I’ve always hoped they’d released a Cask Strength to match what GlenDronach has done. The GlenDronach is ace, and this one from BenRiach is similarly good, yet different (maybe less sherry), and I suspect will only get better and better with future batches. For me it really blossoms with a drop of water in it. It’s a proper whisky, at a fairly good price (especially at the high abv). Check it out!
Available: Master of Malt – £52.84

Thanks to BenRiach for the sample.