Benriach Batch 13 Single Cask Bottlings

[Diademo]

Just got a newsletter from Benriach about new single cask bottlings. Any thoughts?

BENRIACH RELEASES BATCH 13 OF ITS "SENSATIONAL" SINGLE CASK BOTTLINGS

BenRiach Distillery has today (August 19, 2016) released Batch 13 of its renowned single cask bottlings.

It comprises twelve superb casks that were bottled in June and all are available as of today. The twelve go from 40 to 16 years old, demonstrating a hugely eclectic range of expressions for which multi award-winning BenRiach is renowned worldwide.

The variety sets BenRiach’s single cask series apart, including whiskies in the classic Speyside style, peated expressions and wood finishes, such as Tawny Port, Burgundy, Pedro Ximenez Sherry, Claret, Madeira and Tokaj.

Individually hand-numbered, non chill filtered, bottled at natural colour and presented in a gift tube, each single cask is truly unique.

All twelve casks have been hand-selected by Master Distiller, Billy Walker, who described them as “truly sensational” and added:

“Our much-anticipated batches allow us to identify very special casks in our inventory and every single cask bottling is an exclusive limited release. I have selected these twelve casks because they are outstanding and full of personality.”

Amongst them are some real highlights but the standout is the oldest from 1975. Cask 7028, at 53% vol, is a gleaming rich amber peated Sherry Butt. On the nose, it bursts with tropical fruits and ripe banana with the most distant hint of campfire embers while the taste is of plum skins, dark raisins and hints of yellow pear which hold a robust peat reek. Rich vintage leather and old oaky characters add a classic aged depth.

The cask details are as follows:

1975 cask # 7028 / 40 years old / Sherry Butt / Peated / 53% vol.

1976 cask # 5462 / 39 years old / Port Hogshead / Peated Tawny Port Finish / 53.8% vol.

1977 cask # 3111 / 38 years old / Port Hogshead / Tawny Port Finish / 43.1%vol.

1978 cask # 3114 / 37 years old / Port Hogshead / Tawny Port Finish / 48.8% vol.

1986 cask # 3183 / 30 years old / Pedro Ximenez Sherry Hogshead / Peated Pedro Ximenez Sherry Finish / 55.6% vol.

1986 cask # 7569 / 29 years old / Oloroso Sherry Butt / Peated Oloroso Sherry Finish / 51% vol.

1991 cask # 6896 / 24 years old / Burgundy Barrel / Burgundy Finish / 50.6% vol.

1993 cask # 7937 / 22 years old / Claret Hogshead / Claret Finish / 54.3% vol.

1994 cask # 4004 / 22 years old / Tokaj Hogshead / Peated Tokaj Finish / 55.1% vol.

1995 cask # 5959 / 20 years old / Madeira Hogshead / Madeira Finish / 53.9% vol.

1998 cask # 6401 / 18 years old / Pedro Ximenez Sherry Puncheon / Triple Distilled Pedro Ximenez Sherry Finish / 57.3% vol.

1999 cask # 5043 / 16 years old / Oloroso Sherry Puncheon / Oloroso Sherry Finish / 56.4% vol.[/b]

[Alexppp]

Just a point of clarification, but what do they mean by 'finish'? I'm guessing it's a typo/misunderstanding, because if we take everything at face value it implies e.g. a whisky matured in an Oloroso puncheon and then finished in a different Oloroso puncheon, etc.

Either way, sadly most of them would be out of my price range for everyday drinking, but the young-ish Oloroso puncheon in particular would tempt me.

[Diademo]

[JKD]

[Alexppp]

This whole finish thing is confusing though - don't Glendronach use the same ambiguous wording? But with Glendronach especially it would be hard to imagine anything other than a full sherry maturation for their single cask bottlings.

[Diademo]

[Alexppp]

I asked because they also use the word 'finish' at Glendronach - specifically, in the case of a bottle I bought recently, 'Finished in the finest Pedro Ximenez sherry cask'. Which is confusing precisely because, as you said, I would've also assumed sherry-to-sherry.

[Diademo]

Many Whisky Anoraks are sensitive about this issue as well and are trying to get the answers from the distilleries. Here’s a couple of articles from MAO blog regarding Glendronach single cask issue, re-racking and finishing:
https://myannoyingopinions.com/2014/02/14/glendronach-confusion-single-cask/

https://myannoyingopinions.com/2014/03/23/glendronach-single-casks-revisited/

[Fabien]

Hi all, my first post but I have been lurking in the shadows for years but this topic has made me raise my head. Great forum by the way.

IMO when 2 or more casks are re-racked into a single cask to complete its maturation this should not be labelled as a "Single Cask". The Scotch whisky industry needs to take a look at this activity as whisky drinkers are willing to pay more when they see the words single cask and the whisky makers know this

[Diademo]

Welcome Fabien!

You are right regarding single cask definition - but until SWA is acting as cover-up for big whisky players there will be no changes.

Regarding Glendronach, with giant Brown-Forman take-over we can expect even less transparency…

[Archer]

[sorren]

This is a contentious issue.. Just another way of ripping off the buyers.. Re cask ing 2 or more into a single cask then marketing it as a single cask is just wrong.. This is also a way to say finishing.. It might be that the casks were quite tired then put into a first fill this is a way of finishing a whisky.. Hence the need for more transaperency!! It's amazing what can and can't be done..

[Diademo]

Crazy prices for Benriach Finish casks bottles!

1975 cask # 7028 / 40 years old / Sherry Butt / Peated / 53% vol.: £ 672.00
1976 cask # 5462 / 39 years old / Port Hogshead / Peated Tawny Port Finish / 53.8% vol.: £ 600.00
1977 cask # 3111 / 38 years old / Port Hogshead / Tawny Port Finish / 43.1%vol.: £ 552.00
1978 cask # 3114 / 37 years old / Port Hogshead / Tawny Port Finish / 48.8% vol.: £ 505.00
1986 cask # 3183 / 30 years old / Pedro Ximenez Sherry Hogshead / Peated Pedro Ximenez Sherry Finish / 55.6% vol.: £ 263.00
1986 cask # 7569 / 29 years old / Oloroso Sherry Butt / Peated Oloroso Sherry Finish / 51% vol.: £ 238.00
1991 cask # 6896 / 24 years old / Burgundy Barrel / Burgundy Finish / 50.6% vol.: £ 165.00
1993 cask # 7937 / 22 years old / Claret Hogshead / Claret Finish / 54.3% vol.: £ 145.00
1994 cask # 4004 / 22 years old / Tokaj Hogshead / Peated Tokaj Finish / 55.1% vol.: £ 145.00
1995 cask # 5959 / 20 years old / Madeira Hogshead / Madeira Finish / 53.9% vol.: £ 126.00
1998 cask # 6401 / 18 years old / Pedro Ximenez Sherry Puncheon / Triple Distilled Pedro Ximenez Sherry Finish / 57.3% vol.: £ 111.00
1999 cask # 5043 / 16 years old / Oloroso Sherry Puncheon / Oloroso Sherry Finish / 56.4% vol.:£ 94.00

Just imagine what they are planning for upcoming Glendronah single cask bottlings.
We are paying now for insane price of take over… (well, we all know it)

[Genuine Risk]

Will be interesting to see how long they take to sell out. Noticed the past couple of batches of Glendronach have struggled to shift with small price Increases and possibly one or two poorer quality bottles dotted among them.

These used to be my go to bottles but finding it alot harder to buy
_________________
Putting the func in dysfunctional.

[Keith]

The prices are no surprise but I wont go near them at these prices and I am sure many others who used to have a bottle or two wont either. No doubt they will sell slowly but probably sell eventually.