BenRiach 23 Years Old 1997 Winter 2020 (The Whisky Agency)

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 The Whisky Agency, the German independent founded by Carsten Ehrlich in 2008, known for its illustrated labels and quiet sourcing of older stock from European brokers. It is part of the Winter 2020 series. Distilled in 1997 and bottled in 2020, the release had a small outturn of 427 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 23 years in oak, the cask was bottled at cask strength of 50.7% 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. Typical tasting notes include citric, dried fruit, cooked fruit, fresh fruit, new wood and sandy.