BenRiach 21yo Tawny Port – 46% abv

Info: Matured in American bourbon barrels and then finished in Tawny Port casks sourced from the Douro region in the north of Portugal. Replaces the 15YO Tawny Port finish. Bottled at 46% vol.
Colour: Late summer setting sun gold, slight red tints.
Nose: Meaty, punchy, and fruity. Also damp wood and dunnage floors. A (vanilla) creaminess soon comes out.
Palate: Nice and smooth, easily introduced to your tongue with fairly thick oils. You naturally want to hold this on your tongue for a long time, and after a while slight smoky hints come out, possibly from the cask char. It’s not overly sweet, but instead a temptingly balanced sweetness, with a hint of cream to keep it in balance. It’s fairly easy on the spices and wood tannins.
Finish: The finish is smooth gentle and long, warming you from the inside, and dying out slowly, rather like a wood fire dies at the end of the night.
Thoughts: I really love this dram, it’s easy drinking, the age doing really well for it’s smoothness… it’s a little less spicy than the others I’ve recently reviewed, and that works a treat for me, I really don’t like my whiskies overly spiced of late. Yum!
Available: Master of Malt – £108.17

Thanks to BenRiach for the sample.

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