Category: Distilleries B

The Smoky Twelve is one of the 4 base-line expressions of BenRiach recently revamped by their master blender, Dr. Rachel Barrie. I had the opportunity to taste all of them side-by-side which always makes for a very interesting experience. This one turned out to be my second favorite in that group.

Nose: Hm…. hello? Anybody there? This is a very shy nose. There’s something in the glass though. A little peat kitten hiding at the bottom, mewling forth little puffs of soft smoke. Very, very slowly the nose dares to emerge from the glass. A more refined smoke than the Smoky Ten but, for, uh, peat’s sake, please, come out of there already! Have a bit of fun in my nose! I won’t hurt you, I promise. Hints of mint. Or perhaps I’m hallucinating. Feeling a little bit lightheaded from the effort of breathing so hard to pull this nose up out of the glass. (7.0/10)

Palate: Hits with the texture of dry, dark chocolate. Quiet on flavors at first but subtly buzzing like a lit fuse. Then, after a few moments, flavor unfolds like an old canvas unrolling to reveal a rich painting of billowing dark smoke over glowing red depths. This is quite lovely and rather unexpected based on the nose. Not so unexpected is the degree of complexity compared to the Smoky Ten. Once again, as with the Original Ten and The Twelve, those extra 2 years made a huge difference. (7.6/10)

Finish: Not entirely unlike the Smoky Ten, the finish is struggling just a little bit to stay level. It’s really good though. Layers of smoke build up and only deflate occasionally and briefly. This one reaches just a little deeper into the chest than the Smoky Ten and flares up more pronouncedly on each breath. There’s a slight green aftertaste but it doesn’t bother me too much. (7.5/10)

Balance: All sides of this whisky are worth exploring but, man, that nose takes some effort to get to. No matter though. Once you’re a few sips in all is good and the struggle is quickly forgotten. The Smoky Ten is just fine but this one takes the same concept a notch or two further up. For BenRiach those extra 2 years from 10 to 12 have proven magical both for these peated and the non-peated expressions. Out of the basic BenRiach line-up revamped by Dr. Rachel Barrie both this and The Twelve have turned out to be clear successes. I’ll be happy to spot them on some bar’s shelf and have a dram or two. (7.3/10)

The Twelve is one of the 4 base-line expressions of BenRiach recently revamped by their master blender, Dr. Rachel Barrie. I had the opportunity to taste all of them side-by-side which always makes for a very interesting experience. This one turned out to be my favorite in that group.

Nose: Whoa… what a change from the Original 10! Usually I expect age to round off and diminish certain notes but this one has truly come to life with just another 2 years added. Darkly stained antique oranges, pleasingly arranged on an equally antique leather topped oak desk that’s been polished perhaps a week ago. A well disciplined nose, too. Somehow it’s managing to form a fairly precisely delineated volume hovering half an inch above the top of the glass like a mushroom cap and it doesn’t seem to move or spread from there. You can sort of just stick your nose into that space whenever you feel like having another whiff. This is quite nice! (7.7/10)

Palate: For a bottle strength whisky that’s a surprisingly bulky and solid mass pushing its way through the door, warmly buzzing into the room and spreading itself around comfortably wherever it can. It’s sort of all the bits from the nose but not in that formal arrangement. All the bits of wood, leather and antique oranges are stuck in a mildly sweet blob of delicious, honeyed dessert goop. The sweetness added to the other notes make for a nice balance of flavor all around. And unlike the Original 10 it doesn’t quickly fade away either. This is also quite nice! (7.7/10)

Finish: I wish the flavors of the palate carried over into the finish more. There are echoes that come to life on each breath but primarily the finish is all about an intense bright spot of heat in the very back of the throat radiating in every direction and, once again surprisingly for a bottle strength dram, quite deep into the chest. After waiting for a bit the deep and comforting heat makes you forget and forgive the loss of the palate’s flavors. If I was rating for the immediate finish only it I would have rated it slightly lower. But, after all, this is quite nice! (7.7/10)

Balance: Well now. Comparing this against the Original 10… we have a clear winner. Almost everything about this is, forgive me, quite nice! And the brief disappointment I experienced with the early finish can be easily forgiven. Nicely done, Dr. Rachel Barrie! (7.7/10)

The Original Ten is one of the 4 base-line expressions of BenRiach recently revamped by their master blender, Dr. Rachel Barrie. I had the opportunity to taste all of them side-by-side which always makes for a very interesting experience.

Nose: The League of Generic Citrus Fruits has at long last made peace with their ancient enemy, the Alliance of Various Pears. All of them have gathered in the designated neutral zone located somewhere on the Gentle Oak Plains in order to talk things over and hash out the details of the peace accord. Currently Mr. Average J Grapefruit, a rather mild-mannered fellow, is addressing the crowd in long-winded sentences but nobody is really listening. This thing has been going on for a while and everybody is a bit sleepy and half dozing off. The future looks peaceful albeit a bit boring. This nose has all the non-thrilling pleasantness of the inoffensively decorated lobby of a hopeful, new small business. (6.1/10)

Palate: A little more excitement here. Like a conservative middle-aged office party with generic supermarket cake. The initial hit of flavor in the front is quite nice and delivers some caramel and orange cake notes but it fizzles out quickly as the whisky travels to the back of the tongue  and diminishes to a shapeless… sensation. Hard to call it tasting something. It’s sort of a neutral, mildly buzzy wooden board that was washed with the same water someone must have used earlier to rinse off a bunch of citrus fruit. (5.6/10)

Finish: Ah, finally, something is making an effort here! As soon as the whisky goes down a nice puff of oaky breath rolls up the back of my throat. All it’s olfactory elements quickly convert into a pleasant but flavorless heat that mostly lives at the back and top of the throat and mouth. It even manages to, very hesitantly, reach down into the top of the chest. Though it appears to be scared by its own courage like a cat that climbed up to the lowest branch of a tree. Still this part is not bad and has a surprising amount of staying power.(7.2/10)

Balance: Honestly, this is not bad at all. A perfectly reasonable dram to start with or have at bar with a limited selection. Is it great? No. The palate definitely puts a dent in the experience. But the afterglow does manage to make up for it. I’m surprised by just how much I enjoy sitting here with the warmth and residual flavors of the finish and for how long I’m able to do so. (6.9/10)