BenRiach 25 Year Old Scotch Review

By Richard Thomas

Rating: A-

The BenRiach has a reputation as being the Speyside distillery that does a little bit of everything, working with peated and unpeated malts and aging in all manner of casks. Yet being a jack of all trades doesn’t mean they have mastered none. Instead, it just means the distillery has a big palette of whiskies to blend expressions with.

My first try at BenRiach 25 was over lunch, sitting next to a man whose fingerprints are all over the label: Stewart Buchanan. That personable fellow is currently the Global Brand Ambassador for BenRiach, but previously served as the distillery manager there. I enjoyed it as the after-meal dram, and enjoyed it immensely, but that was not under what I call suitable tasting circumstances. So, I’m pleased to report I’ve been able to come back around in short order and give BenRiach 25 a proper try… and the result is I like it just a little more now than I did as a dessert whisky.

This single malt, aged a minimum of a quarter century, is drawn from stock aged in ex-bourbon barrels, Oloroso Sherry casks and virgin oak (whether that is American or European oak, I can’t tell you). The malt was bottled at 46.9% ABV.

The Scotch
A dram of BenRiach 25 has a look so perfectly settled on the boundary between gold and copper that which side of the line it’s on changes with the lighting. Swishing the glass leaves a thin, sticky coat behind, one that drops slow-moving, skinny legs.

The nose is light and airy. What I could draw out of the vapors was suggestive of dried, Sherry-driven fruits and spices, backed by a hint of mustiness. The flavor, however is much more substantial and flavorful than that might suggest. It’s sweet with the aforementioned dried fruits, honey and wet tobacco leaf, but tinged with dry, woody pepperiness to give it some balance. What is more, it is quite mellow. The finish starts with that sweet tobacco before trailing off with a light, fading and lingering pepperiness.

Like I wrote above, I first tried it as an after-meal dram, and it was very well-suited to the role. Tasting it later on lends me to the same opinion. It’s strong enough to serve as a digestif, while still smooth and sweet enough to work as a dessert whisky. Pick up a bottle and start serving it after your meals.

The Price
Alas, here is the painful part. Scotch tends to be expensive, and old Scotch particularly so. Expect to pay about $250 a bottle for this one.