Benrinnes 14 Years Old 2010 Cask #303522 (Blackadder)

Benrinnes 14 Years Old 2010 Cask #303522 (Blackadder) is a 14 year old single cask Benrinnes from the Speyside distillery, drawn from a single ex-Amontillado cask, distilled under the modern double distillation regime at Benrinnes. This release was bottled by Blackadder, the independent founded in 1995 by Robin Tucek and John Lamond. Blackadder is best known for its Raw Cask range, bottled directly from cask with cask sediment included. The release was distilled in 2010 and bottled in 2025, with a small outturn of 238 bottles, as an event-exclusive bottling, at 55.7% ABV.

Benrinnes was founded in 1826 by Peter MacKenzie at the foot of Ben Rinnes hill in Speyside, with the current site rebuilt after a flood destroyed the original in 1829. The Edward family sold the distillery to John Dewar in 1922, and it has remained in the Diageo group lineage since. The distillery's distinctive partial triple distillation system ran from 1974 to 2007, when Diageo reconfigured the stillhouse to a conventional double distillation regime with two wash stills feeding four spirit stills. Vapours are condensed through worm tubs kept at very cold temperatures, restricting copper contact and locking in the meaty, sulphury new make character that has made Benrinnes a stylistic neighbour of Mortlach, Dailuaine and Cragganmore. Diageo replaced the worm tub copper coils in 2023, with the distillery returning to a stated 3.5 million litre annual capacity.

The ex-Amontillado butt previously held a sherry that began under flor yeast before losing its protective layer and undergoing oxidative ageing, picking up both the saline, bread-dough character of biological ageing and the walnut, dried fruit sotolon character of the oxidative phase. The hybrid maturation suits Benrinnes well, with the savoury sherry profile dovetailing into the meaty new make. Typical tasting notes include cooked fruit, dried fruit, leathery, new wood, nutty and sherried.