BenRiach has always been GlenDronach‘s shy sibling, but not anymore! Dr Rachel Barrie has shaken up the core range and BenRiach is getting more of the spotlight!

BenRiach – The Chameleon Malt

BenRiach is a distillery in Speyside, known for its experimental distillation and maturation ever since Billy Walker bought over the distillery in 2003. Why do I spell BenRiach with a capital R? It’s Billy Walker’s signature mark to capitalise a letter in the middle of the name, like GlenDronach or GlenAllachie. Pretty much like the late Stan Lee’s cameos in Marvel movies. Being one of the first few distilleries in Speyside to triple-distil their spirit shows how willing they are to break regional stereotypes and experiment! They even started distilling peated spirit since the 1970s!

In some whisky circles, BenRiach single malts have been known as the ‘chameleon malt’. To clarify, this means that the spirit character adapts well to various casks and cask finishes. What is cask finishing? It is taking a matured whisky in a more gentle cask, usually American white oak casks and transferring the whisky to another cask to add a layer of flavours. And just how adventurous was Billy Walker with cask-finishes? Well, just for example, if you would look into the archives, BenRiach has gone into Madeira casks, Sauternes casks, dark rum, tawny port and wine casks! The spirit worked well, fitting into various casks of different flavours, like a chameleon changing colours based on its environment. However, some people find it difficult to pin down BenRiach’s signature spirit character.

The baton is in good hands

So, how has Dr Rachael Barrie changed the new range? In my opinion, I think that she played to the strengths of BenRiach’s chameleon character whilst addressing its confusing nature. That is to say, the new bottlings feature BenRiach matured in ex-bourbon barrels and finished in casks like Jamaican rum, Port, or Marsala and blends it with full-term matured Benriach to create unique flavour combinations. In my opinion, this is absolutely genius! It showcases BenRiach’s chameleon nature with cask finishes whilst securing a consistent house-style with ex-bourbon maturation. In addition, Brown-Forman, who owns several American Whiskey distilleries, is also providing BenRiach with quality ex-bourbon casks!

The new packaging is ironically a call back to the packaging of BenRiach in the 1990s, when BenRiach was owned by Seagram’s.

BenRiach The Original Ten

The Original Ten is a combination of peated and unpeated spirit. As a result, the blend produces a lightly smoky malt, which was what some Speyside whiskies were like in the past. Bottled at 43%, the label declares the casks used, namely, Bourbon casks, Sherry casks and Virgin casks. This is largely ex-bourbon dominant, so this bottling has a more fruit-forward character with a trace of smoke that becomes a little more distinct with time and a couple drops of water!

Out of the four new releases, I really enjoy this the most! I was surprised by the blending expertise that ensured the balance between peated and unpeated Single Malt. It gave me flashbacks of the Arran Smuggler’s Series. Although, I would love to see a version of this at an abv of 46% or higher someday!

BenRiach The Smoky Ten

The Smoky Ten is a revamp of the 10yo Curiositas, but a little funkier! This 10-year-old single malt features some peated BenRiach with a Jamaican rum cask finish, giving it more fruitiness! With the Virgin oak contributing more to the body, I would say that this would be a delightful daily dram for a peat lover!

BenRiach The Twelve

I expected this unpeated 12yo to be pretty popular in the room for the media event, and it was. Being based on the previous sherried BenRiach 12yo bottlings, this now features a combination of full-term sherry matured single malt with some Port-cask finished stock. In my opinion, this brings about more of that bourbon-cask fruity house style. For any sherried malt lovers, this bottling would be something you might want to try!

BenRiach The Smoky Twelve

This is a rather interesting entry, as it offers the BenRiach peated experience with a bit more European oak spice notes from the sherry and marsala casks. I like it that the core features casks from more unique fortified wines!

Concluding Thoughts

As a person who causally blends whiskies as a small party trick or for my own enjoyment, I can feel the expertise and mastery of the art Dr Rachel Barrie has put into this core range. And I know it’s out of her control, and I know Brown Forman does want to make BenRiach appealing for the mass market, but I do wish some of these entries were unchill-filtered so I could really get the full character of BenRiach. Maybe we need to start educating more whisky drinkers to understand the beauty of scotch mist!

If you’re interested in the new bottlings or the old unchillfiltered bottlings, do check out MaltWineAsia with this link! They have both! There are some cask strength single cask BenRiachs under S$200 as well!
Special thanks to MaltWineAsia, Brown Forman and Stewart Buchanan! Look out for the BenRiach distillery article next week!

Earlier in August 2020, Whiskygeeks had a chat with Managing Director of Origin Spirits Patrick Shelley. Origin Spirits has in its portfolio the Ornabrak Single Malt Gin, Kalak Single Malt vodka and the Currach Kombu Irish Whiskey.

What it became

Patrick works with West Cork distillers to create unique products that Origin Spirits offers. Patrick talks fondly about Director of West Cork Distillers, Dr John O’Connell, who holds not just one but two PhDs! Dr O’Connell saw some potential in Patrick’s ideas and was eager to help make Patrick’s ideas a reality!

Under LVMH, some of the brands Patrick used to work for had decades of history with tales abound. As a fresh new company, Patrick had instead created a story around the product, Kalak, weaving Irish folklore and gods with this beautiful spirit. You can read more about here!
Patrick wanted to use 100% Irish malted barley for several reasons. Even though malted barley cost around three times as much as other grains, Patrick wanted a quality product with personality. It also pays homage to the terroir of Irish local barley and a quality ingredient.

How it’s made

How it’s aged

The casks used for Origin Spirits are not used for maturation more than twice. So far, Origin Spirits are only using American White Oak for their cask maturation. The casks Origin Spirits uses comes from the Kelvin cooperage in Kentucky.

Patrick stumbled on the idea of using seaweed to char the casks, which serves as a fuel source for the charring and imparts umami flavour to the oak. This marks Currach, the Kombu Irish Whisky, with the terroir of both the sea and land with Irish seaweed and barley. For Currach, Patrick prefers using virgin oak to bourbon casks as the bourbon flavours in the cask might interfere with the delicate umami flavours from the seaweed. Aged in ex-bourbon for 3-4 years then 3-month finish in virgin oak, as it maximises the kombu flavour, mellows the spirit and ensures the whiskey does not get too oaky.

What’s next for Origin Spirits

The kombu used for the charring for Currach is a type of brown seaweed, and Patrick intends to experiment with other kinds of seaweed, like with red seaweed and green seaweed. Currently, Origin Spirits are using American White Oak, either virgin or ex-bourbon oak. Patrick wanted a mellower oak influence to allow the spirit character to shine. But Patrick has a never say never attitude, so sherry fans, stay tuned!

Patrick is going to experiment a lot more with food pairing, but progress has been slower due to the pandemic. But in general, Japanese cuisines, and umami dishes like steak or mushrooms works well with Kalak and Currach. Patrick describes those spirits as gastronomical and I would have to agree!

Origin Spirits has shown a lot of innovative products which excel in form and function. I am looking forward to their next release!

Back in December, Whiskygeeks was invited to an exclusive Cognac Park tasting. After trying some non-traditional Cognacs, I found an excellent malternative.

What is a malternative?

As enjoyable as whisky might be, having too much of a good thing could get boring or burn you out. It’s essential to give your palate a break sometimes, and a Malt Whisky Alternative, or Malternative, could give you such a change. 

Good whisky Malternatives should be quality spirits as well, and one such example is Cognac.

What is Cognac and how is it made

Cognac is an aged grape spirit from the region of Cognac in France under a specific set of rules called the AOC designation, dictating how it can be made. You can find the document (in French) here. 

White grapes will ferment for 2 to 3 weeks till it reaches 7-10% abv. Cognac distilleries use Charentais copper pot stills for double distillation in a similar fashion to Scotch single malt. In the first distillation, the white wine becomes Brouillis, equivalent to low wines in Single Malt distillation. The brouillis, at approximately 30%, undergoes a second distillation, also known as Bonne Chauffe. The distillates then split into heads, hearts and tails, just like whisky. Only the heart portion goes into French oak barrels for maturation. The distillery will not throw out heads and tails. Instead, they will add the head and tails back into the wine or brouillis for the next distillation. Both distillations require about 24 hours in total, so the Charentais pot stills are running 24/7 during distillation. 

The cognac “new-make spirit” or eau de vie goes into French Limousin oak casks for maturation. The angel’s share is around 3% on average, slightly higher than Scotland.

 

How is it different from Whisky?

In whisky, producers use a wide variety of barley strains, but Cognac distilleries primarily use Ugni Blanc after the phylloxera mould crisis of the 1960s. The grape is disease resistant, high in acidity and low in sugar. Such properties make Ugni Blanc a suitable grape for making Cognac. Cognac Park uses approximately 60% Ugni Blanc for their Mizunara range. Imagine if the SWA proposed that rule to use barley varieties like Golden Promise, Triumph or Bere Barley. 

The Charentais stills for cognac distillation use must be direct-fire heating as well. Many Scottish distilleries, on the other hand, that have switched to steam coils.

Unlike Scotch and many other spirits, Cognac distillation, with accordance to the Cognac Appellation, can only occur around late November to March. 

 

What makes Cognac Park different?

Cognac Park is in the Borderies, the smallest growing cru in the region, just 4,000 hectares under vineyard cultivation. The soil in the Borderies is prized for its limestone and chalky properties. This terroir could be the reason why cognac from this region has characteristic floral notes of violet. Cognacs in the Borderies region also have a reputation of requiring a shorter maturation time for the same quality. The entire Cognac Mizunara collection are all Single Cru Cognacs meaning that the grapes used are exclusively from the Borderies region.

The Mizunara casks used for Cognac Park must be virgin casks; which means that it cannot have aged spirits before, similar to bourbon. The Mizunara cask finish also cannot extend beyond 12 months. Otherwise, the cask could lose its appellation, and the cask cannot be considered a Cognac anymore.

Tasting the Cognac

Now to the Cognac! The Cognac Park Mizunara matures in French oak for 4 years before a  6-month finish in virgin Mizunara casks. This NAS was one of my favourites before the I tasted Single Cask. With the 10-year-old Mizunara, it generally has more Cognac characters with a nice layer of Mizunara complexity. However, due to the longer 10-month finish in virgin Mizunara casks, the patient drinkers amongst us will be rewarded. Regardless, I would definitely recommend this to anyone who enjoys Cognac previously.

The vintage 2006 single cask was extraordinary, primarily due to its higher alcohol strength that allows the cognac’s complexity to shine. This single cask portrays many flavours similar to a youthful yet tender single cask whisky. The last Cigar Blend was mindblowing as well in terms of age and taste. The Cigar blend contains cognac ranging from 25 to 32 years old that has leather and tobacco flavours similar to sherried single malt in its mid-twenties or older!

Many thanks to Spirits Castle for the invite to this exclusive tasting. These bottles can be bought locally here! If you are interested in the tasting notes, I have left my opinion down below!

Cognac Park Mizunara Finish

Nose: Notes of raisins, dried fruits. Insense notes, a hint of black pepper and sandalwood. With water, notes of brioche started to appear. 

Palate: Orange peel, sandalwood, incense, herbal note, earthy notes. With water, oak spice and sandalwood.

Finish: Herbal note, vegetal notes, sandalwood, With water, cinnamon spice and black pepper.

 

Cognac Park 10yo Mizunara Finish

Nose: Soft nose, rich raisins, figs, red apples, black pepper, umami note, floral notes, milk chocolate. With water, cinnamon, star anise, brioche, oak and honey.

Palate: Floral note, orange peel, parfait armour, ripe red apple. With water, vanilla, cinnamon and toasted oak.

Finish: Incense note, black pepper spice, raisins and walnuts.

 

Cognac Park 9yo 2006 Single Cask Mizunara Finish

Nose: Green Pears, hints of orange, honey, herbal note, black pepper, vanilla, lemon zest. With water, more confectionary sweetness and green apples

Palate: sandalwood, vegetal note, earthy notes, umami notes, confectionery sweetness, With water: green apple, herbal sweets, minty cooling sweets

Finish: sandalwood, black pepper, incense note. Water: more minerality, raisins.

There were so many Glenmorangie events recently that our heads were practically swimming with the whiskies from the distillery. Even though we shared two previous posts about Glenmorangie, we wanted to share a particular event hosted by The Exciseman Whisky Bar because we thought it was truly exceptional.

Brendon McCarron and The Exciseman Whisky Bar

With Brendon in town, it was an excellent chance to share some moments with the trade personnel in Singapore on a cosy Monday afternoon. Lewis and Patricia from The Exciseman Whisky Bar hosted an afternoon tasting session on 1 July 2019. It was a rare chance for Brendon to interact with more trade people in Singapore, and to give all of us a better understanding of what Glenmorangie is all about.

The Whisky Line-Up

WhiskyGeeks has spoken extensively about Glenmorangie and Brendon, so we will not repeat them. What we want to share here are the reviews of the various expressions that we tasted at The Exciseman Whisky Bar. It was a unique tasting because we paired whisky with the wine that the whisky was finished in.

Lasanta 12 Years Old x Pedro Ximenes (PX) Sherry

The first whisky on the list is Lasanta 12 Years Old. Its name means warmth. We understood from Brendon that the whisky matures for ten years in ex-bourbon casks before finishing in both Oloroso and PX sherry casks. 75% of Oloroso sherry and 25% of PX sherry gives a result of “clean sherry” influence. For the pairing, a PX sherry was used.

Lasanta 12 Years Old

Nose: The first nose was that of cinnamon spice, sweet raisins, toffee and chocolate. With some time, vanilla and honey surfaced. It also becomes relatively oaky.
Palate: We tasted cinnamon, caramel, raisins and hints of chocolate. There was also a pleasant warmth. It was a light and easy dram. With time, sweet vanilla, honey, coconuts and white pepper came out to play.
Finish: The finish was medium, with dark chocolate, hints of cocoa powder, raisins and honey. It was also oaky and dry.

PX Sherry

Nose: It was full of dark raisins (reminded me of Ligo brand), plums and sweet stewed fruits. I could nose this all day!
Palate: Full of raisins, stewed and candied fruits, there was also some honey that I could get on the palate. It was a delicious dram even though I find it a tad too sweet for my liking.
Finish: Long and sweet with raisins and stewed fruits lingering on forever.

Conclusion: I may like the sherry more than the whisky with this pairing. The nose and palate of the sherry bring back beautiful memories of snacking on raisins in my childhood! This is a perfect example of memories helping us to like a particular drink more than others!

Quinta Ruban x Ruby Port

The Quinta Ruban is a port cask finished whisky bottled at 46%. The whisky matures in ex-bourbon casks for ten years and finishes in ruby port casks for two years.

Quinta Ruban 12 Years Old

Nose: There was vanilla, honey, musky caramel, hints of oranges and spice in this one. The sweetness was more muted than the Lasanta 12 YO, but there appeared to be more complexity in the whisky.
Palate: Yes, the complexity continues in the palate. I got the vanilla, honey, cinnamon spice with hints of oranges. There were also dark chocolate and oak to it. The level of maturation and finish in the whisky was more exciting than the Lasanta 12 Years Old.
Finish: The finish is long and oaky, with the slight bitterness of very dark chocolate.

Ruby Port

Nose: The nose was full of chocolate, light raisins and fragrance of grapes
Palate: Extremely sweet with heavy chocolate notes and the fruitiness of grapes.
Finish: Soft and short, there isn’t much of a finish here.

Conclusion: The whisky is the winner over there. The spirit character of Glenmorangie is evident in the Quinta Ruban 12 Years Old. The level of maturation is also excellent with both the bourbon and port influence showing clearly.

Nectar D’òr 12 Years Old x Sauternes

The Nectar D’òr is a 12 Years Old whisky bottled at 46% too. The whisky matures for ten years in ex-bourbon barrels and finishes for two years in Sauternes casks.

Nectar D’òr 12 Years Old

Nose: Initial nose gave green fruits such as apples and pears. It then developed into melons, honeysuckle, vanilla and hints of white pepper. With some water, I got oranges, lemon zest and a more substantial sense of white pepper.
Palate: There was light fruitiness of melons and apples, but the white pepper were prominent. With water, the orange peels and lemon zest showed themselves alongside white pepper. The overall was spicy, but lingering sweetness hid below.
Finish: Long, oaky and tannic. Water reduced some tannins, but it remained oaky. The fruits were subtle.

Sauternes Wine

Nose: There were light raisins, Qoo white grapes juice and hints of melon and apples.
Palate: I got plenty of sweet Qoo white grapes juice and raisins. It was also tannic.
Finish: The medium finish was oaky and tannic.

Conclusion: I did not like the Nectar D’òr as much as the other two. Perhaps it might be due to the peppery spice and tannins from the Sauternes cask. As you can imagine, I did not like the Sauternes wine very much too.

Astar 2017

Finally, we had the Astar, which was made using the designer American White Oak Casks that we spoke of during Brendon’s interview. The Astar is fully matured in designer first fill bourbon casks and bottled at 52.5%. It is also a non-age statement whisky.

Astar 2017

Nose: We get coconuts, vanilla, melons, honey, salted caramel, and hints of white pepper. With time, citrus lemon zest appeared alongside the other aromas.
Palate: Plenty of vanilla, lemon and honey in the palate with the higher alcohol percentage showing up as white peppers. There were also hints of coconuts. With time, the coconuts and lemon zest became more prominent.
Finish: The medium finish is full of honey, pepper and oak. With time, the finish lengthened and became sweeter.

There was no bourbon for us to pair with the Astar, as we were all quite high by then. Pairing wine and whisky is no easy feat, and we applauded The Exciseman Whisky Bar for doing so. Brendon also did a fantastic job through the guided tasting, and we learned more about the different wines as we go along.

Conclusion: I think I like the Astar 2017 best among the four. It has the complexity that my tongue was looking for, with the bourbon-matured whisky showing significant wood influence. This was my first time tasting a whisky that was fully matured in the Glenmorangie designer casks, and I must say that I am impressed.

Tasting the Glenmorangie Whiskies at The Exciseman Whisky Bar

If you are keen to try the whiskies from Glenmorangie, look no further than the Exciseman Whisky Bar. They have a wide spread of Glenmorangie to choose from at reasonable prices. We present to you a short list of what you can expect.

1. Lasanta 12 Years Old @$15 (30ml) or @$22 (60ml)
2. Quinta Ruban 12 Years Old @$16 (30ml) or @$24 (60ml)
3. Nectar D’òr 12 Years Old @$18 (30ml) or @$27 (60ml)
4. Astar 2017 @$20 (30ml) or @$30 (60ml)
5. Signet @$32 (30ml) or @$48 (60ml)

Full bottles are also available if you are keen to bring them home or open them at the bar to share among friends.

 

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