Soba45
BenRiach Albariza Peated 18 Year
Single Malt — Speyside, Scotland
Reviewed
February 23, 2019 (edited October 2, 2020)
Slight jammy peat, port and a hint of blue cheese on the nose. The palate really is very lovely. To be honest I consider Benriach to be Glendronach's poor younger brother. It mostly aspires to goodness but rarely greatness, its spirit is thinner, missing Glendronach's viscous richness. I do however keep trying them as I'm always interesting in the various combinations of casking and distll they throw together. (I have my eye next on a tokaj cask finish which I had to google to see what it was - Hungarian wine). This is definitely up there amongst the highest I've rated for this distillery. Anyway back to the spirit. I love a good rich sherry casking and a good peated spirit and this marries prefectly. I usually let a dram rest after the initial sip often drinking it over an hour but this is so good I keep diving back in. All the nose stuff plus rum raisin, sugary prunes, toffee, cherry, fig, wood, leather and more. This is at least a 4.5 maybe even an almost unheard of 4.75 as the balance is perfect. Aftertaste is slow and warming. I rate this higher than the laga distillers Edition which to be honest on both sampling and drinking a whole bottle of I wasn't blown away with. @LeeEvolved I see you have a bottle of the 22 year. Hopefully the extra 4 years doesn't over cook it and add wood bitterness as this has zero of that. Please let me know how you find the 22 year. If it's as awesome as @Dreaming-of-Islay and I found the 18 I'll be breaking my rare bottle buying drought - several months running - and getting a bottle (18 yr is sadly sold out) I rate this as my top Benriach equal to the 1977 38 year port cask I had, maybe better.
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@PBMichiganWolverine Nice! Your collection always super impressive. You & @LeeEvolved provide such great insight on so many bottles, helps the rest of us make smart buys :)
@SolanaRoots @LeeEvolved I just got the 22 yr Albariza—I’ll crack that open. Curious to see if it’s as good as it’s younger sibling
@Generously_Paul If it's anything like this one I'm definitely going to enjoy it!
@Soba45 I can’t recommend the Solstice enough. It just blew me away when I tried it. It’s like sweet smoky BBQ turned up to 11
@LeeEvolved Ah good to hear. I might pull the trigger locally. I REALLY want a bottle of that 18 year Albarize. The 22 year is $200USD here which seems steep. Can't wait until you try it out and let me know your thoughts.
@Soba45 - yeah, I bid on a Solstice at Scotch Whisky Auctions last month but I bailed once the price got above £80. With premiums and shipping I became more inclined to put that money towards a different bottle. I still keep my eye out for another bottle.
@LeeEvolved They also have a few of them on auction at whiskey auctioneers. I've started bidding on one. Up to £40 right now. With shipping etc I'll need a few bottles to make it worth it so will have a crack at that and the Albarize and see how it goes.
@SolanaRoots - yeah, the Septendecim was really good but it wasn’t port finished like the Solstice- it’s just a good, peated BenRiach. The Solstice is/was a game changer IMO.
@LeeEvolved Just saw a bottle recently of the Benriach 17Yr Septendecim for $115ish. Looks like you guys enjoyed that one too. Will keep an eye out for the Solstice...
@Soba45 - a bottle of the Solstice for $110? I’d buy every one they had.
@LeeEvolved Hmm I see I can get a bottle here in NZ. $110 USD now. Worth it?
@LeeEvolved I have a sample soon to be opened. I could have got it for $70USD back in the day... then again I almost weep at what I could and should have bought 3 to 4 years ago!
@LeeEvolved Oh and definitely please the 22s next :-)
@LeeEvolved Ah nice to hear on the Kaiyo CS, snaffled a dram in the last order. There is only one bottle of the 18 I can see for sale on whiskey auction. Sadly shipping is $60USD plus another $50USD customs and import duties makes it a bit of a rip
That being said @Soba45 - if you ever spot a bottle of the BenRiach 17 Solstice I highly recommend grabbing it. That was such a wonderful whisky. @Generously_Paul has a full bottle that I can’t seem to get him to crack open...
Funny you should mention it, but I was looking at those 22 year old Benriachs the other night when I was trying to decide what to open next. I feel like I should open all 4 of the 22’s at the same time just for continuity haha. I ended up opening the Kaiyo Japanese Mizunara Cask 43% and the cask strength version (53%) of the same whisky instead. Boy, are they both really good- and surprisingly different from one another. Reviews of both in the coming weeks as I work through them both.