BenRiach – 10yo – 43% abv
Info: Produced predominantly from spirit produced under BenRiach’s current owners. More info on SWB here.
Colour: Clear, medium to full golden.
Nose: Good powerful aroma, full bodied and malty. Green and red apples, a hint of ripe banana and a handful of nuts. After a while it becomes quite creamy.
Palate: Fairly full bodied, and quite spicy, although sweet with those apple skins, malt and ripe fruit notes coming through.
Finish: A fairly fresh finish that’s medium in length and gently warming with spices and a hint of tannins going through through to the end.
Water: A small drop of water brings out some more fruits and a little cask tar. The palate becomes much less spicy and more easily accessed.
Thoughts: A great quality speyside dram with those punchy BenRiach notes still there even with the slightly cold filtered nature.
Available: Master of Malt – £31.49
Thanks to BenRiach for the sample.
SWB | Somerset Whisky Blog 
Hi Steve,
I enjoy reading your thoughts. This review, however, leaves me a bit stumped with your concluding remark: “… even with the slightly cold filtered nature.”
The US label specifically states: “Natural color” and “Non Chill Filtered”.
Cheers,
Bob
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Hi Bob,
Thanks for your comment. Now, it’s just my opinion, so I might be wrong… but I chose cold filtered rather than chill filtered as they’re not quite the same. Anything under 46% abv will go cloudy with water added, so they need to remove some of the oils that make it go cloudy. Some firms who release around 43% cold filter… i.e. they take the whisky down to around 4 degrees centigrade and gently filter… which can help it not go cloudy. Not quite the same as chill filtering that’s for sure, but still some filtering still going on I’d say. I’m sure someone will tell me I’m not quite right, but that comes from a discussion I had at the Glenrothes Distillery recently who do just that process to get to 43%.
Cheers,
Steve
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