Benrinnes 13 Years Old 2008 (Goldfinch Whisky Merchants)

Benrinnes 13 Years Old 2008 (Goldfinch Whisky Merchants) is a 13 year old single cask Benrinnes from the Speyside distillery, drawn from a single ex-Palo Cortado cask, distilled under the modern double distillation regime at Benrinnes. This release was bottled by Goldfinch Whisky Merchants, an independent selecting single casks at natural strength. The release was distilled in 2008 and bottled in 2021, with a small outturn of 390 bottles, for the European market, at 53.2% 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-Palo Cortado butt previously held a rare sherry style that began as Fino under flor before unexpectedly losing the yeast layer and finishing oxidatively. The cask delivers a combination of the elegance and salinity of biologically aged sherry with the walnut, spice and depth of oxidatively aged Oloroso, producing a nuanced structural complement to Benrinnes' meaty new make.