Benriach 12 Year Old “K&L Exclusive” Peated Rye Barrel #13467 Speyside Single Malt – Peated Rye Scotch Whisky News
Another Towering Exclusive Cask from a Speyside Dynamo
Benriach 12 Year Old “K&L Exclusive” Peated Rye Barrel #13467 Speyside Single Malt Scotch Whisky (750ml) ($119.99)
“This distillery has been absolutely on fire recently thanks to master blender Rachel Barrie and all these awards.” — David Othenin-Girard, K&L Spirits Buyer
Today we have part two of our incredible haul from one of the most compelling and in-demand Speyside distilleries in operation today. Our long-time single malt fanatics have caught on to the utterly thrilling whiskies coming out of Benriach, and word of the genius of master blender Rachel Barrie is reaching all corners of the Scotch world. So, imagine our out-and-out joy when we secured three individual 12-year-old casks from this dynamic powerhouse through our connections with the ever-amazing Hart Brothers Finest Collection. This 12-year-old Peated Rye puts a completely unique twist on single-malt Scotch, with the peat process and the rye mashbill combining to create a complex profile that suggests an older whisky than it actually is. Intense rye spices take center stage with tropical fruits playing perfectly at the other end the spectrum, while the peat smoke lends that aged grandeur to the whole picture. Hardcore Scotch fanatics are in for a treat once again with this next stellar offering from the remarkable Benriach.
K&L Notes: The long and complicated history of Benriach includes an optimistic vision, a long closure, a rebirth, a short closure, and finally, a modern renaissance now in full swing. Built in 1897 by John Duff, Benriach sits nextdoor to Duff’s hugely successful Longmorn distillery. Benriach boasts a huge floor-malting facility and five old-school, stone-walled and earthen-floored dunnage warehouses on site, making it one of the most traditionally styled distilleries in all of Scotland. Sadly, shortly after it was built, the market fell out of Scotch, and it was shuttered for over half a century. When it was reborn in 1965, it was controlled by Seagrams for a time before getting taken over by Pernod Ricard and shuttered again in 2001. Fortunately for whisky fans everywhere, the inimitable Billy Walker purchased the facility in 2003, and with this change in ownership, Benriach’s fortunes began to change. Walker had spent years blending whiskies and knew the magic that lay within Benriach. Over his tenure, the quality of their releases skyrocketed, and the popularity of the distillery soared high enough to grab the attention of Brown Forman, who took over in 2016. It is now under the watchful eye of one of Scotland’s finest master blenders in Rachel Barrie. This special cask spanned both Mr. Walker’s and Ms. Barrie’s tenures. The peated distillate, laid down in 2009, drinks like a supremely old-school Speysider. Tropical fruit and intense spice mingle perfectly with the smoke.
