BenRiach 25 Years Old 1998 Old & Rare A Platinum Selection (Hunter Laing)

BenRiach sits on the Elgin plain in Speyside, founded in 1898 by John Duff. Through much of the late 20th century the distillery operated quietly as a filler for Chivas blends, with single malt releases rare until the Billy Walker era from 2004 onwards. The casks from this period are now finite, held mostly by independent merchants who laid them down when the stock was originally destined for blending. This release was bottled by Hunter Laing, the Glasgow family firm established in 2013 when Stewart Laing separated from Douglas Laing. Hunter Laing operates Ardnahoe on Islay and bottles the Old Malt Cask and Old & Rare ranges. It is part of the Old & Rare - A Platinum Selection series. Distilled in 1998 and bottled in 2023, the release had a small outturn of 234 bottles for the European market.

BenRiach distils on two pairs of copper pot stills, with ogee-shaped wash stills feeding onion-shaped spirit stills under steam heat. Fermentation runs between 48 and 100 hours in stainless steel washbacks on Mauri liquid yeast, with new make collected at 68% ABV before filling to cask. After 25 years in oak, the cask was bottled at cask strength of 57.4% ABV.

The ex-Oloroso butt previously held a dry, oxidatively aged Spanish sherry, with the oxidation generating aldehyde compounds including sotolon, which carry distinctive walnut, dried fig and roasted nut character into the BenRiach. European oak (Quercus robur) is denser and more tannic than American white oak, contributing leather, polished wood and a darker structural backbone.