Benromach 10 Year Old Scotch Review

By Alex Southgate

Rating: B

This review reaches into Speyside, and brings back one of my bigger love/hate relationships. I’m more of an Irish Whiskey fan, and the biggest reason for this is peat. I just don’t have a great fondness of peaty whiskies. The smokiness in heavily peated whiskies is something that I find overpowers a lot of other flavors that may be in a whisky to the point where smoke all that I can taste.

This being said, I’m never one to shy away from trying something new and there are certainly expressions that fall under this description that I really like. Today we’re going to be spending some time with Benromach and their 10 Year Old single malt to see where on the spectrum it falls.

Built in 1898 in Forres, the Benromach Distillery was acquired by the Urquhart family in 1993. Keen to revive its lost Speyside style, using a little peat with the malting of the barley to give just whisper of smoke the, family have stayed true to some older techniques. The distillery was reopened by Prince Charles, now King Charles III, back in 1998 and has been pushing forward for a quarter-century now.

The Whisky
The Benromach 10 Year Old Single Malt is a very soft amber on the pour. This is what I would call a lighter whisky, only leaving barely noticeable legs on the sides of the glass. There is very little initial scent as you pour this whisky leaving its secrets to be uncovered on the nose and taste.

The nose, as might be expected, is smoky on the front end, and paired nicely with a baked nuttiness. These savory notes carry into punchy grapefruit which is backed and smoothed out by rich double cream.

The taste is immediately spicy with a whisper of peat smoke running evenly through the background. This is replaced by citrus notes which pair nicely with the juicy flavor of figs. The finish is short with the fruity notes being met by just a hint of honey.

This isn’t by any means a bad whisky. In fact, considering the profile is fairly smoky, it’s something that I would happily sip at. The reason for this is that my senses aren’t being blown out by peat. In the same breath, my preferences mean that while I think this Benromach is tasty, it isn’t necessarily my tipple.

The Price
The Benromach 10 Year Old is coming in at £45, which is quite reasonable for a 10 year old single malt.