On Monday I had a review of a Benrinnes 22, 1995. Here now is a review of another Benrinnes 22, 1995. Though Monday’s was bottled by the Paris store, La Maison du Whisky and today’s was bottled by Signatory, there is a pretty good chance that the source is the same. I don’t mean the distillery but Signatory themselves—as I noted on Monday, I’ve read before that they are the sources of LMDW’s casks (and also of some other EU stores and bottlers). At any rate this cask is just a few numbers away from Monday’s: that was hogshead 9063 and this is hogshead 9065. You may recall that I really liked Monday’s whisky. If this one is as good I will be very happy no matter what the nature of their sourcing may have been in reality. I believe this cask was bottled for the Nectar, a Belgian importer and wholesaler whose Daily Drams series is well-regarded (and from which I’ve previously reviewed a few releases). All signs point to a good outcome. Let’s see if that proves to be the case.
Benrinnes 22, 1995 (50%; Signatory for the Nectar; hogshead 9065; from a bottle split)
Nose: Oh this is even fruitier than Monday’s cask. It’s a similar honey-drizzled fruit basket (apples, pears, nectarine, pineapple) but more intense and sweeter. The leafy/grassy note is here too but lighter. After a minute or so there’s quite a bit of lemon peel and a bit of malt that takes the whole in a muskier direction. As it sits the leafy note expands a bit but so does the fruit and malt; the lemon peel is quite pronounced (and waxy) now and there’s some cream/custard as well. Water brings out some pastry crust and pushes the lemon peel back a bit.
Palate: Comes in with the lemon leading the way and then the rest of the fruit begins to expand dramatically turning quite tropical as I swallow. Lovely texture and very approachable at 50%. A little more wax and a bit of pepper on the second and third sips. The pepper expands a bit and then with more time the metallic note from the finish pops out earlier. Okay, let’s add water. Maybe I added too much water but it makes it more indistinctly sweet.
Finish: Long. The tropical fruit notes build (ripe pineapple, passionfruit, tart-sweet mango) and then a slight metallic note emerges at the very end. The pepper keeps going here too once it shows up. As on the palate with water.
Comments: I liked Monday’s Benrinnes a lot and I like this one even more. Ah, I wish I had a whole bottle! And if I did I’d drink it neat.
Rating: 90 points.
I have always liked this distillery and had gotten a few IB bottles from Binny’s years ago! Even though they were younger I remember tart lemon and some pineapple.
I think if/when people ask me about scotch instead of repeating the terribly misleading “if it starts with G it’s good” I might tell them to stick to Bs, maybe I’ll say Bs as in “Be Best.” I recently had Balvenie 12 43% and it was even better than I’d remembered (for what it is). Benromach? Ben Nevis? Benrinnes? Balblair? All very good. Even Bruichladdich NAS isn’t bad.
Yes, the Bs are generally very safe—though Bruichladdich is a bit of a wild card.