12-year-old

Nice smooth easy to drink in the 50/50 category Gentle in the tongue and strong enough to make it worth while,., good but at. Good price 40 to 50£

Decent Daily Dram easy drinking - well balanced ,pleasant mouthfeel - the finish is rather /medium short....also good for newbies to start with very well integrated smoke...to me def. the Speyside Whisky / Distillery that works best with peat these days. N: Shy but nice Orange, slight vanilla cake sweet smoke, T: Starts fruity (sweet Oranges) plus some sour fruit (lemon notes) / Choclate F: Nice oak note , roasted nuts ,

21.09.22 slight tendency towards 85 5/26 to 85

Benriach The Smoky Twelve 12yo, three cask matured 46%. Aroma smoked barley grains, old oak, gooseberry, oily mint. Body full and oily. Taste is salty, only subtly smoky, some bitter oak, vanilla notes. Building smoke after a few sips and yet the impression fades with time. Fairly plain and simple and not that smoky, but a solid whisky. A bit disappointing by BenRiach's high standards though. (3.3/79)

Tasted on 09-15-2021 in Bergisch Gladbach.

Smoke, ash, burning rubber, burnt grain, lemon, mineral.

Speyside isn't your typical smoking region, so it's inherently difficult when distilleries like Benriach bring smoky whiskys to market. After all, Benriach has had a smoky tradition for a long time. In the Region Tasting, the smoky Benriach made it to fourth place. That's OK. But do you need such a whisky? On the tube, Rachel Barrie is written as the master blender, but there are no instructions for cooling filtration. And for the colour, the new Brown Forman formula 'natural cask-imparted colour'. www.glen-efze.de

Offering a very subtle smoky note, this could be a good alternative for those who find standard Islay smokers too smoky.

22+22+21.5+22

Nice whisky, Let it breathe in the glass for a while to allow all the aromas to come into their own

For what it sets out to be—a straightforward, pleasing spirit—it succeeds admirably and is a good option to have on the shelf.

Soft and delicate on the nose; full-bodied and powerful on the palate, with fruity and smoky notes. Medium finish, with the smokiness coming through clearly. One of the discoveries and revelations of 2026. A dram where the smokiness is perfectly integrated with the flavors. Also tried with a little water—best avoided, as there is too much loss of flavor. After Glenglassaugh, an other perfect dram from Rachel Barrie.

Tasted on 09-15-2021 in Bergisch Gladbach.

Fruity on the nose, light cereal notes, nice light fruitiness, a bit nutty, the smoke resonates everywhere with everything. In the mouth then a nice light fruitiness, barrel char (light smoke), some wood. But the fruit has been in your mouth for a long time.

Definitely not my style..there is smoked ham in this with bacon and I don’t like that in my whisky.

nose: meaty, smoked, peaty,, caramel and chocolate, peppery mouth: it is creamy, easy to drink, then spicy, quite strong, then fruity, a little macerated and sweet on red fruits, cooked and candied strawberries with its juice, "earthy" peat made from moss, fern, pine needles, therefore less aggressive than maritime and medicinal Islay peats. return of orange peel, always a little meaty on the barbecue, the chocolate a little toasted, the vanilla comes back at the end with the sweet orange. final: average on the basket of candied fruit, chocolate and dry peat, very pleasant surprise. a renewal of age accounts is good.

A pleasant mixture of gently smoked barley malt notes and skilfully incorporated fruit, which I really like except for the slightly tart finish and the very slightly metallic aftertaste.

79 Similar impressions to regular 12. It has a lot of things in it, but I don't know if it's attractive, it's just flat.

A well executed BenRiach, the Marsala influence worked well. Both coulourwise and tastewise it is the darkest of the new BenRiach core range (10's en 12's). The smoke is softer than the Smoky Ten, and it has more depth than the Twelve.

Dark amber color. Oily whisky.

Not bad at all! I would place this a little above Bunnahabhain’s peated Staoisha, and it reminds me of that expression for some reason. This has an incredible balance, with a peach element running straight through from the nose to the finish. I can’t say that I prefer it over the unpeated standard 12-year old release however.

Aroma carries a hint of sherry-like sweetness that almost disappears under the light peat but works well with the dried fruits and malty notes; Palate is the waxiest of the new core and sits heavy and warm with a similar profile to the aroma; Finish is nice, but kind of muted.

Pours clear, red gold. Scent is very mild smoke. Taste is full, fleshy, mild smoke. very woody, salty touch. Smoke builds up, but never bothers. Full, long finish. I liked it just a tad more than the original 10 - which is noteworthy since I usually don't like smoke.

Sweet-smoked, interspersed with berry and fruit tones, with a wine plume. An original malt that reminds me of early autumn.

Amber color. A lot of oiliness.

Smoked peach tea Benriach rebranded about the same time at Benromach and neither of them really pushed my buttons. It’s not that the rebrands were bad (they’re not - they’re are quite nice looking) but more that I never really connected with them as whiskies, I just don’t really care enough to have an opinion. So, design aside (I don’t really like the mauve colour going on with The Smoky One, it time to dip my toes in the Benriach juice and see what’s what. The powerful sweet fruity nose launches itself at you from even a cold glass. Think of a heavily smoked, medicinal, peach tea with chunks of toffee. It’s got a hot wood note and ash. There’s an undercurrent of English stone fruit jams, think old greengage jam, some stewed plums, there’s a sourness in there, too along with a sting vein of bourbon sodden oak. But the big takeaway of the smoky, charred, ashy upfront nose. It’s not particularly up my alley, it comes across too woody, too ashy, too smoky. Maybe this is what they’re all about? Maybe it’s not for me. We’ll see! In the mouth and the arrival it sweet (lots of Marsala - never been a fan of this odd tasting wine) syrupy and then smoky and ashy and then the stone fruit black tea arrives and more wood char and smoke and then astringency arrives along with a salty note and more drying wood char. There’s also quite a lot of prickle and spice that comes in behind the first stage. On a little sip it’s not so noticeable and the whole thing remains quite sweet, but on a bigger one it’s impossible to ignore, almost a burnt black tea note, underneath all this smoky prickle there’s the bourbon oak character and more old, stale jam. There’s hints of sticking plasters, antiseptic creams, sawdust and a tiny little drop of creosote. It’s quite the stinky dram. And about as subtle as the brick. Any good? For me, it’s one of those whiskies that would take a while to get through, now, that might be good for my liver but it’s not so rewarding for my soul. It’s ticks all the boxes in terms of it being a decent age and appears not to be coloured or filtered, it’s got a super mouthfeel too but it comes across too rough, too prickly and the bitterness is a distraction I can do without. This is a nice looking chair, made with all the right materials, put together by a talented carpenter and sold at a fair price but for me it’s also uncomfortable and as such it will always be that chair that sits unused in the corner of the room until one day, I get right of it and replace it with something more comfortable. Would I buy it? Nah, not a chance but it’s not bad, just not a good fit for me.

https://whiskylovingpianist.wordpress.com/2021/05/27/spotlight-on-benriach-a-world-of-flavour/ Cask mix: bourbon barrels, sherry casks, marsala wine. N: The brininess and sappy vibrancy is a different prospect with this smoke-driven dram. T: A surprisingly weak arrival, initially, before the pine-y sappy > salty~washy < = peaty middle beds in. F: Lingers contently enough, becoming very smoky with caramel < toasted popcorn and a briny [chilli gherkin] heat. C: This one works well enough for me. Price? +/- £45

Slightly peaty nose, rural above all, with earth, hay, hints of barn. The Marsala gives nice currant notes, and the Sherry adds body and thickness, with leather, dried fruit, quince and apricot. The palate is very tasty, a very successful blend of blueberries and peat, adding candied plums and a few spices, paprika, nutmeg, saffron. Finish also successful without being too flashy, on charcoal and earth, chocolate with grains of puffed rice. Cola. For me it is an excellent success, which goes much further than the Smoky Ten, more solid, more structured and more fruity. https://ilikesky2020.blogspot.com/2021/11/benriach-smoky-twelve-12-yo.html

S 6.5 Again, not essentially an improvement from The Smoky Ten. 81-85 - Another dram welcomed H2H Tasting The Original Ten - WB165510 -83 The Twelve - WB165512 - 83 The Smoky Ten - WB165511 - 81 The Smoky Twelve - WB165513 - 81 Malting Season First Edition - WB189361 - 83 21yo Tawny Port Finish - WB85034 - 85

Sparkling on the palate and tongue, as if it were carbonated. Balanced and round, delicately smoky with a rather short finish.

Overall impression: The nose is clean and pleasantly sweet in a simple way, but the spice-dominated character on the palate was a bit disappointing. It's not aggressively spicy, but there's a certain distinct taste that's a bit too much.

Banana Bread in the Oven The new core range of BenRiach consists of a 10 and 12 years old, both unpeated and peated. The fun part is the fact that all four expressions are made up of different cask types. That makes it quite interesting in my book. This Smoky Twelve is a vatting of bourbon and sherry casks, but also Marsala wine casks. Intriguing, no? Must be nice for Dr Rachel Barrie to have such lovely panoply of casks to play with as Master Blender. Top nose! Lots of oranges and roasted almonds, but with a lovely smoky edge. Some raisins and red fruit shine through in the background. Walnuts and cloves in the mix. Banana bread in the oven. If it can keep this up on the palate, we have a winner. While the body is somewhat light, the taste is great. The Marsala has put its foot down, offering up quite a bit of red fruit like cherries and strawberries, great notes of dark chocolate, cloves, candied oranges and vanilla shine through as well. Very complete, round and simply satisfying. The almonds and mostly oranges reappear in the medium long, softly smoky finish. This is my favorite of the new core range, while I secretly had hoped it would have been an unpeated one. Oh, well, that’s life. This one is just great.

light smoke with light fruity aromas and subtle sweetness on the nose. The taste is then clearly spicier than expected and less fruity. Personally, I think it's a shame that the fruit component goes under here. For advanced beginners certainly worth a dram ... maybe. Only a sample is worth it. It's not bad, but it doesn't knock you off your feet either, and it's not a must-have (except as a BenRiach fan). [80 - 76 = 'really not bad'-whisky -> but do I need a (second) bottle?]

Very delicate on the nose, almost reservedly shy, he allows himself to be lured. The whisky clearly needs some standing time in the glass for oxygenation. Then more and more aromas open up and it becomes more darkly fruity and moves more in the direction of sherry cask aging. The taste is almost a bit too spicy and peppery for me, so I miss the fruit from my nose. Departure is then better again.

Good whisky, expected even less. The aroma is wonderful, but the aftertaste is farmhouse and even acidified. In general, a little flat, although I thought it would be of the Curiositas level. :) The pungency in taste asks for water, but water does not solve the problem. 22 22 20 19

Pleasantly surprised by this one. The smoky sour, salty and sweet notes are well managed by the addition of peat. Caramel toffee, sharp, and quite prickly. A sweet malty peaty malt with wine and sherry cask influences. Definitely one to consider.

Summary: A very approachable peated Speyside with a beautiful balance of smoke, sweetness and fruit – complex enough for connoisseurs, but not overwhelming.

This bottling has a very beautiful, almost beguiling nose, which reminds me of the 15-year-old Drambuie liqueur (heather honey with herbs). Unfortunately, the initial refreshment does not continue in the mouth.

At first noosing is blackcurrant and gooseberry, but after a short time... smoked meat, long-boiled cabbage, smoked plums, butter. Very homely. The taste of peat, medicaments, but also the familiar notes of smoked meat and smoked plums, slightly almonds. In the finish: plums and cherries, eucalyptus, anise, mint, crispness, but also peat, ginger, pleasant tartness of very sour apples, but also a hint of tea, and there is some vegetables, starchiness. Good, though strangely arranged whisky.

n: smoke/peat, sherry, sweet t: wooow, dangerous sipping, sherry a: sherry, smoke

very nice malt, very nice combination of aromas, a really good price-performance ratio.

Great combination of a fruity speyside with just the right amount of peat.

It ages in three types of casks: Bourbon, Sherry and Marsala wine casks. On the in-house malt floors of Benriach, smoky malt is only produced one month a year.

Snickers in a glass The best of the new Benriach line

Nose: caramel, raisins, syrup, dried fruits, orange, grapes, citrus, delicate smoke, liqueur cherries, red fruits, spices. Palate: quite flat, sweet, raisins in spirit, wet wood, spices, chili and pepper, vanilla cream, delicate smoke. Finish: alcoholic, warming, raisins, pepper, caramel, dark fruits.

Nose: mesquite, sweet paprika, coaldust and a hint of salinity Palate: burnt ends and smoked pastrami, vanilla and black pepper Finish: barbecue spice rub Tasted blind as part of Wings and Whisky- Age statement

Light yellow. Nose dish and vanilla, light smoke and sweetness. Taste dish, vanilla, light smoke, rounded. The barrel online tasting.