Benrinnes 8 (North Star Spirits Cask Series 16)

North Star Series 15 and 16 tasting, The Oak Barrel, Sydney, 9 March 2022. Whisky #2 Nose: Malt, cardamom, allspice, nutmeg, tumeric, pepper, currants. Palate: Creamy, gingery malt on the arrival. In the development I tasted butterscotch rolls, cinnamon scrolls, gingernut biscuits and walnut bread. It's a very biscuity whisky in character. The texture is OK, and certainly not thin. Finish: Medium. Malt extract, biscuit flavours and a trace of the spices from the palate. Not a bad whisky but it lacks something. It’s not complex but I wouldn’t go so far as to call it shallow either – it’s sort of a wading pool whisky. Perhaps it’s the youth or maybe it was a shy cask, but this is both oddly laid back for a Benrinnes (it's certainly not heavily sherried) but also spicy and it has that pleasant malted biscuit quality. The last North Star Benrinnes I had was a little older and finished in a PX cask, and it was more … well … more “fun” I guess. This whisky was like someone you meet at a party and talk to for 15 minutes but 5 minutes later you can’t recall their name or anything they said. It fails to engage. Water takes a while to make any difference but eventually it produces a little more sweetness, however I preferred this neat. It's OK value but I would not recommend it above any other whisky in the same price bracket, and in the final analysis it’s an above average dram, but only just. “Above Average” : 80/100 (2.75 stars)