Sold outNov 2023In short · BenRiach (Speyside), 34 years.
“Tied between two coconut palm trees, the hammock gently swayed in a breeze that mixed wafts of fragrant tobacco and polished tropical wood with soft leather.…”Extract · full tasting notes at SMWS
SMWS 12.80 is a single cask of BenRiach, in the Speyside region, 34 years old, bottled at 59.2%, released in the Nov 2023 Outturn. Every Society bottle numbered 12.x is from BenRiach.
Specs, price and tasting-note extract from the SMWS. Full notes on smws.com.
Near Elgin, in the Speyside heartland, BenRiach was founded in 1898 but spent long stretches shuttered, its stills and old floor maltings fallen quiet. Its modern life began in 2004, when Billy Walker and partners bought the sleeping distillery and set about proving Speyside could be adventurous, distilling peated as well as classic unpeated spirit and maturing it in an inventive spread of casks. Now owned by Brown-Forman, it has kept that restless streak. The range runs from honeyed and orchard-fresh to smoky and richly sherried, which makes a single cask a small lottery of styles, and part of the fun of the name.