Tastes

Nose: Restrained. As it evolves sherry, raisins, vanilla, spice and honey become apparent, all very much intertwined. It's a good nose, but it remains very distant and seems diluted. Palate: Very smooth but thin entry - it's almost like drinking water with a little honey. It develops slowly and is all about honey, fruitcake and nougat chocolate (very much like a liquid Toblerone). Unfortunately it's too watery for its own good, and lacks impact. Finish: Short. Sweet oranges and white grapes, not much more. Unlike Aberlour A'bunadh, which practically jumps out of the bottle at you like an alien face-hugger, this is very shy and retiring. Let it sit and open for a while or you wont get much on the nose at all, and don't add any water - it isn't needed. I thought this was too subdued and seemed to be crying out forlornly to be bottled at 46%, at which strength it would have a lot more character. I much prefer the 12 year old double wood which is about half the price. This expression seems as if all the difficult but interesting bits have been sanded away. Someone who is looking for a sherried single malt that focuses entirely on easy-drinking smoothness would probably give this 4 stars, but for me it doesn't even rate 3 ... and it's excessively priced. "Average" : 77/100 (2.5 stars)

Nose: Sherry, orange, malt, honey, dried fruit, vanilla. Palate: Soft, sherried, fruity and lightly honeyed arrival. This profile develops into a more amplified version of itself, with almonds and soft fruit also appearing - apricots (definitely) peach, nectarine, prunes, very dark almost over-ripe cherries. The fruit becomes more varied and bolder, the honey broadens and spreads to create a very luscious mouth-feel, and the background sherry builds gradually. However it's the fruits that dominate, with apricot and peach becoming unmistakable. There is just the tiniest hint of spice, but they are warm and subtle baking spices (nutmeg, cumin, caraway, etc.). Finish: Medium. It fades away gracefully, just as it built gracefully in the development. A soft sweetness stays around for ages. A class act. This reminds me in many ways of Glenfarclas 12 but with a softer and fruitier personality. The Glenfarclas is a highland gent in tweeds, this is a gracious and rather attractive lady of a certain age. She's just as slow to make your acquaintance as he is, but once you have done so the conversation is charming and witty. A well-crafted whisky that showcases the delights of a sherried-fruit character without becoming an overbearing sherry-bomb. Add a few drops of water (and I mean literally just a few drops) and give it a swirl and rest. The nose resets and starts to develop all over again with oak now appearing. The spice is highlighted on the palate which evolves into a fruit tray of flavours, supported by sherry. The finish becomes even more pervasive and subtle. A fine whisky and absolutely not one to rush. It's good value for money - in fact I'd say this is one of the best buys in single malts if you are looking for an easy-going fruity, sherried expression with some depth. (Note that its sibling, the more difficult to obtain 12 year old un-chillfiltered expression, is an even finer dram and better value still). "Good" : 84/100 (3.75 stars)

Nose: Cider vinegar and malty spiced notes - an aroma remarkably like still active malt wort. Spicy oak aromas, sherry, some caramel and vanilla. An earthy and slightly dank note underpins everything. It's not unpleasant, but unusual, and keeps developing for a good while. A dash of water disperses the earth dankness and highlights the sherry. Palate: A sweet and dense malty/fruity arrival that develops some gingery spice. The texture is on the thick and chewy side. Fruit and nut milk chocolate. Water highlights the heavy fruit character and tones down the spice, which thickens the texture even more. Finish: Medium/long. Oloroso sherry with spices on the end that tend to turn a little sour in the aftertaste. A curious whisky. The nose has an interesting winey/earthy quality that makes you expect something bold and interesting of a similar character on the palate. However when you get to the palate it suddenly veers off course into grassy, vegetal flavours, before eventually recovering and getting back onto the original track for the finale. It was interesting and instructive to try, but I'm not going to buy a bottle, and to be honest it's a bit rough. Tasted from a 30ml sampler. "Adequate" : 72/100 (2 stars)

Update: Distillery tasting of a 2023 batch, April 29th 2024. The notes from my tasting of 2018 (see below) are all still valid, but I can’t help feeling there is just a fraction less body and texture in this contemporary batch, so I’m lowering my rating by a quarter point. However the overall character is still of excellently peated oranges and spice and for me this stands out as the quintessential expression of Benromach. Bypass the 10 year old (although it is also very good) and don’t bother with the expensive (but excellent) heritage releases. This one is where the magic lives and it’s the sweet spot for value. “Very Good” : 87/100 (4.25 stars) ———————————————————————— Nose: A gentle fruity smoke teases the nose - someone is baking orange cake in a wood-fired stove in a cottage nearby. A sunny path winds its way down to the beach, with orange blossoms and fragrant herbs on the wayside. You can smell wild honey and pollen on the wind, and the scent of flowering apricots and tangellos from the nearby orchards. Your friend in the leather jacket passes you a bag of freshly baked spicy ginger cookies. The path crests the sand dunes as you smell the breakers rolling in, and a waft of oil and sandalwood reaches out to you from the pier. Palate: Sweet soft citrus floods the palate, accompanied by memories of smoky tobacco - that sweet, mild Cuban cigar last night. Anise, cinnamon, rosemary, and rockmelon burst into your thoughts accompanied by a cooling mint highlight. Finish: Long, bittersweet and herbal. Cane juice, sweet oranges and spearmint flow into the distance, with a final reminiscence of smoke. "Kull wahad", as Muad'Dib would say. After some of the mundane malts I've been tasting lately this is almost too good to be true. A beautifully engaging nose and a palate that recalls and delivers on the promise of those aromas, followed by a finish that is modestly sublime. Add just a small dash of water to open it up, but it does not need to rest for long. Benromach is now on my list of top 10 Scottish distilleries to watch. The Islay old guard distilleries had better get their houses in order. "Excellent" : 88/100 (4.5 stars)

Nose: Spirity wine – more brandy or even rum than port. Fruit cake, sucrose sweets (like smelling a bag of fruit flavoured candy), Turkish delight, vanilla, malty cereal. With water it gains an odd papery aroma. Palate: Very smooth and sweet arrival. The development brings plums, sultanas and other sweet fruits then cereal and malt syrup flavours. It’s akin to eating a blackcurrant muesli snack bar smothered in butterscotch topping and following that with a handful of barley sugar sweets. With water even more fruits spring out, all berries of some sort, embedded in thick blackberry jam. Finish: Long and slightly spicy, sweet wine in the finish, and a lingering taste of syrup. Not exactly a sherry-bomb, richer and broader than that. More like a syrup bomb. If you like your whisky thick and sweet then this would probably be your thing, but it’s not really mine. I prefer my whisky dry and if I do want something this sweet and mouth-coating I’ll drink a liqueur muscat or Venezuelan rum. It is extremely well crafted, however, with no actual faults at all and I could imagine it would be generally well-received. It’s hard to be objective when something is not to one’s taste. Sampled at a Sydney whisky shop tasting, January 2018. "Good" : 83/100 (3.5 stars)

Nose: Dark sweet honey combined with dry sherry - very dry and nutty. There's also a savoury, almost meaty or leathery edge that's quite interesting. A hint of engine oil and something sharp - menthol? Mint? I get the figs and soy sauce that the official review here notes, but not the orange marmalade - it's more like grapefruit or sour lemon to me. Deep down there's some oak. Palate: A moderate delivery that you think is going to be sweet, but suddenly turns most confusingly savoury and then salty in the development. Quite odd. I didn't get much in the way of berry or fruity notes - maybe some sultanas in a savory sauce. Toasted almonds, roasted chestnuts. Hmm, a touch of licorice and citrus zest. Finish: Long, dry and spicy, finishing on over-brewed tea, a savory-sweet licorice note and a spice I can't quite identify. I'm partial to challenging whiskies but initially but this one seemed just too odd, however once you acquire the taste the meaty-earthy sherried character that is quirky at first glance becomes quite enjoyable. It's certainly not your average sherry-bomb. For a young whisky this also emphatically needs time to wake up and flex its muscles - 15 minutes at least. It's not an immediately forceful nose but once it gets going it commands attention with its unusual but gentle complexity. It's a most surprising malt, maybe not one I'd turn to every day, but interesting, which is never a bad thing. The nose is still developing in the glencairn after 30 minutes, with oak coming more and more to the front. Adding a dash of water sweetens everything to match and ramps up the spices as well. I enjoyed the bottle I had and was glad to be able to spend some time with it and get to know the whisky as it changed over a few months. It was an interesting dram but I wouldn't bother buying it again. "Good" : 83/100 (3.5 stars)

Nose: Distant sherry, raisins and cereal. Palate: A light malty arrival that moves on to a sherry, dried fruit, citrus and brown sugar development with a little spice. It’s very laid back and on the whole I felt that the palate lacked presence. Finish: Short. The spice note in the palate trails off, quickly. I'm at a loss to understand the generally high ratings I see for this whisky, here and on other sites. For my taste it’s much too thin and nondescript and I could not find any of the aromas or flavours described in the official tasting notes. In fact, I was so puzzled I poured a dram of Highland Park 12 to taste just to check that my sense of taste was not haywire today. No, the HP was just as usual. I don't know if I should rate this at all - perhaps I have a bad bottle? I can't believe that it is meant to be so feeble and distant. It’s not actively unpleasant or bad, just the definition of average. “Average" : 75/100 (2.5 stars)

My bottle: Distilled 2001, bottled 2014. Nose: Vanilla, malty cereal with an earthy character. Barley sugar, brown sugar/caramel, orange peel, some sherry and a funkiness. There's almost a bourbon character to this nose. Subtle wood. Palate: A slow and measured arrival, starting out slightly sweet with orange and honey, then turning spicy . Gingerbread, caraway seed, cinnamon. Not particularly engaging. Finish: Medium. Dry rather than sweet with a restrained spiciness and some faint orange zest. Spoiled by a sour/bitter note that emerges at the end. Rather disappointing - I don't know if I got a bad bottle, but it is not very engaging. The nose is the best part, and even that's not really great. Very average for the money. "Average" : 78/100 (2.75 stars)

Nose: Briny smoke with a medicinal/iodine edge. Seaweed, an oily vegetal and citrus note as of lemon peel. It's a joyously piquant nose that eventually opens in the glass with some sweet aromas to counterbalance the salty oiliness. Hmmm, salty and oily - yes, there's a touch of tequila about it. A little more tarry smoke as it opens and way in the background there is a whiff of cask. I don't get a lot of the fruity notes many other people notice, apart from the lemon peel. For me this is fundamentally a maritime nose, with a dash of menthol, that hits the face like spray from a blustery on-shore breeze. Adding a dash of water - oh OK - there's some soft fruit - apricot and peach, and even a subtle floral aroma. Very nice. Palate: Sharp sweet/bitter smoke on the attack, dry and becoming more astringent in the development. Salty and cereal, with bright herbal and spice notes - lemongrass, celery seed, cumin and coriander. A return of the citrus peel. Suddenly it turns sweet with hot ginger and syrup, then begins to fade just as quickly - a fast one-two punch followed by a retreat. Smoky all the way, but although it lingers the smoke does not develop a great deal - it's somewhat one-note and the first impression is what stays. The mouthfeel is dry and light. Adding a little water softens the palate dramatically and adds depth, but does not change the profile much. The herbal notes become more rounded and move to centre stage and a little licorice appears. Finish: Long, salty and sweet with a smoke that lingers. Mmmm, I like the intensity of the palate and finish neat, and with water it's just as enjoyable. The first sniff makes an impression of acrid smoke, particularly if nosed deeply, but it's really just a smoke-screen (ha! ha!) for a more subtle and pervasive tarry quality throughout. This definitely tastes as young as the advertised age but there is also an undeniable quality that tells you it could be a much more substantial dram with further maturation. As it is, however, it's as breezy and fresh as Lagavulin Bay itself and there's nary a sign of oak anywhere - totally spirit driven. Do let it sit for a while - as young as it is it needs to open a little and I'd recommend nosing and tasting neat first to get the full smack in the face, followed by a solid dash of water to soothe the subsequent experience. It's a most enjoyable, no-nonsense, youthful and vigorous malt of the smoky persuasion. It has just what you'd expect and hope for in an 8 year old from Lagavulin, and then some. "Very Good" : 86/100 (4 stars)