I will admit my bias up front. For anyone who has followed my channel for any length of time, you will know I am a Benromach champion through and through. I have been to the distillery, adored it before I went, and left loving it even more.
So when the new Benromach 12 landed, matured exclusively in first fill Oloroso sherry casks, bottled at 46% ABV, natural colour and non chill filtered, and priced at just 45 a bottle, I already suspected I was going to enjoy it. What I did not expect was that it would become the first whisky I have scored a perfect 10 all year.
Let me start with the nose, because this is one of the most complex drams I have ever put to my glass. Instantly you get cherry and smoke, and curiously it comes across peatier than it actually is, drier and more phenolic than the standard Benromach house style. But this is not a sherry bomb, and that matters enormously to me.
If all a whisky smells of is sherry, I am not really here for it. If I wanted that, I would just buy a bottle of sherry. What makes this special is integration. The sherry adds profile without stripping anything away from the spirit.
Beyond the sherry there is chai tea, custard, honey, freshly baked pastry, a hint of salted deli meat from the smoke, and a bright squeeze of lemon oil running through it all.
On the palate, the journey simply keeps unfolding. The smoke hits first, denser than you would expect for a whisky peated to around 12 ppm, then that cherry chews through alongside plum, cranberry, and a wave of brown sugar, cinnamon, and buttery pastry. There is sweet, well-roasted espresso, more of that zingy lemon, and a finish that turns dry and waxy, leaving a coating of peat smoke and citrus oil across the mouth as chewy fruit sweets stuck between your teeth.
Here is my honest verdict. Put aside my history with the distillery and look at it in black and white. An aged-stated whisky, 46%, natural colour, non-chill filtered, delivering this much depth for under £50. I genuinely struggle to think of another bottling, from any category or country, that beats it for the money. I have always said the Benromach 15 tastes like what Scotch whisky should taste like, and this does the same for less cash and a higher strength.
This is bottle number two for me, and I have already shared one out among friends. That tells you everything. So what do you think, can anything match it at this price?
To see my full tasting of this new 10/10 whisky, check out my YouTube video.
Read the full article at Why The New Benromach 12 Year Old Is A 10/10 Whisky
