BenRiach Sherry Matured 12 Year (Discontinued)

You can smell the sherry on the nose, along with caramel and oak. Sherry, chocolate, nuts on the tongue. Peppery finish with a smooth buttery late flavour

Nose: An interesting nose of intense sherry, leather, old oak, cherries and cedar wood. There's also an orange aroma in the background, both orange juice and orange zest. Palate: Lots of sherry, both sweet and dry, on the arrival together with dried fruits. It's a well defined and assured palate and the development brings out shortbread, caramel, raisins, walnuts, bitter dark chocolate, espresso and a little vanilla. Finsih: Surprisingly short. Dry sherry and dark bittersweet chocolate, and a mild gingery spice in the aftertaste. Very nice neat but it can take water with dignity and a dash marries everything together wonderfully, bringing out more dark chocolate and malty notes balanced by increased softness to the sherry. For some reason it always makes me crave a mild cigar. The only fault is that it seems to suffer adverse oxidization effects. Once my bottle was down to about half way a bitter walnut and leather character started to become slightly too prominent. It's a cut above the average but not an amazing whisky, however it's certainly worth a try by anyone who enjoys sherry matured or finished whisky. "Above Average" : 81/100 (3 stars)

Initially I really loved this whisky. It had beautiful flavour and richness but thin bodied. Still I preferred the oily thickness of a say a Glendronach. However having bought a bottle for myself recently it didn't just quite hit the lofty heights of previous tastings. I think perhaps the fact I tried initially with a bunch of other whiskies took the edge off the imbalance between the alcohol and flavour or just a different bottle. Once opened for a while it oxidized very quickly as do most Benriachs. It's hard to rate this one. initially when opened it was a 3.5 rounding up to 4 given only $55USD however it barely gets a 3 after being opened for 3 months. The flavour is nearly all dissipated