Gordon & Macphail (Bottler) | (Connoisseurs Choice) Benriach 1980 |14 years old | distilled 1980 and bottled 1994 | 40% | read more tag
Situation: March 2019; On vacation in the Netherlands, Lecker Vakantie! Today, we made a long walk, went swimming and built a Pterodactyl. So I’m as exhausted as Jolle in the background but in a good mood!
Information: This dram was bottled by Gordon and Macphail as part of their Connoisseurs Choice range, hence it was cut down to 40%. There’s not much information about this one, I couldn’t find out which casks were used but after I finished the dram, my guess is a rather active refill Bourbon cask.
Nose: Green Apples in Vanilla curstard, walnuts, vanilla, cream bruilée strong oak influence, burned caramel. A bit thin.
Taste: Very light and sweet. Brown sugar, vanilla, oak, tannin, strong black tea, vanilla, peaches. Slightly floral. Drying and salty.
Finish: Drying. Thin but quite drying, walnuts, vanilla, burned toast, not as long as expected. Bitting and salty. I found a review on whisky base which said that the finish feels like carbonated water and I have to say once you’ve got the idea in your head, I have to say it feels so true. And weird.
Conclusion: Maybe I was too exhausted from a long day with the kids but this is a bit too delicate for my peasant palate. The Benriach taste shines through but it is very diluted and the dram appears like a faded memory. If the notes present were a bit more intense this would be a pretty nice dram but at only 40% this isn’t really convincing. At least not to a tired me…
Score: ★★☆☆☆ Click here to find out what that means to me.
Other whiskies I reviewed from the distillery: BenRiach
Other whiskies with the same score: ★★☆☆☆
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