BenRiach Single Cask Bottling – Batch 13 20 Years Old 1995

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. Heritage stock from this period is finite, with the distillery selectively releasing remaining casks under Brown-Forman. This release comes from BenRiach's Single Cask Bottling, Batch 13, the modern programme of small-outturn cask releases. Drawn from cask #5959 and bottled in 2016, this 1995 vintage totalled 278 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 20 years in oak, the cask was bottled at cask strength of 53.9% ABV.

The ex-Madeira cask previously held a Portuguese fortified wine subjected to deliberate oxidation and gentle heating (estufagem or canteiro), generating extreme concentrations of aldehydes, furans and Maillard compounds. The BenRiach inherits burnt caramel, candied orange peel and a distinctive dried-fruit acidity uniquely associated with Madeira finishes. Typical tasting notes include fresh fruit, cooked fruit, honey, new wood, nutty and vanilla.