Last week’s booze review was of a sample sent to me a long time ago by Michael K. of Diving with Pearls. That was of a bourbon released in the 1980s. Here now is a review of another sample sent to me a long time ago by Michael. This one is a single malt whisky distilled in the 1980s. This is a 26 yo Benriach, distilled in 1987 and bottled in 2014 or so by Exclusive Malts/The Creative Whisky Co.. I apologize if I am killing them off prematurely but I don’t think they’re still a going concern. Back in the day they were a middle of the road indie bottler who sought to project a more premium feel via branding and design. I don’t think they ever quite pulled that off very successfully but they did bottle some decent whiskies. And the proprietor, David Stirk, was an energetic participant in whisky forums and so forth. I was reminded of this when I went to Michael’s own review of this whisky in search of cask info. I realized then both that there is no specific cask info for this release and also that I had participated in a conversation in the comments on that review alongside one David Stirk and some likely sock puppets. I’ll leave it to you to go check those shenanigans out for yourself if you’re so interested. For now let’s get to this whisky.

Benriach 26, 1987 (48.7%; Exclusive Casks; from a sample from a friend)

Nose: Damp oak, moldy leaves, rye. By the second sniff the oak is in full-on water damage territory but there’s some nicer stuff trying to get out from under it (lemon peel, honey, gooseberry, some cream); will they make it all the way out? Well, no; if anything they recede like a mirage. A little better with a splash of water—likely taking it down to 40% territory—as the damp oak gets pushed back just a little.

Palate: Something’s gone very wrong. It doesn’t taste off-puttingly awful—it just tastes like grain alcohol mixed with artificial whisky flavouring. Even more chemical on the second and third sips, with some talcum powder and cheap floral soap mixed in. And it just gets worse and worse. Will water rescue it? No; it makes it sweeter but that only makes it more unpleasant.

Finish: Alas, I could not finish it. (“In Soviet Russia whisky finish you!“)

Comments: I can’t remember the last time I poured a whisky down the drain. I see that on Whiskybase Michael and I are the only ones to not rate this in the 80s. (My own score is generous because I wanted to preserve the supremacy of the Balcones Brimstone, the first whisky I truly hated.) Unless this was an anomalous bottle, I am at a loss to understand those scores—I don’t think Creative Whisky Co. had that many employees. Ah well, as the saying goes, there’s no accounting for other people’s bad taste.

Rating: 62 points.