Benrinnes 13 Years Old 2002 (SMWS 36.103)

Benrinnes 13 Years Old 2002 (SMWS 36.103) is a 13 year old single cask Benrinnes from the Speyside distillery, drawn from a single ex-Bourbon cask, distilled during the partial triple distillation era at Benrinnes. This release was bottled by the Scotch Malt Whisky Society, the Edinburgh-founded members club established in 1983. The Society identifies each bottling by a distillery code followed by a cask number, with poetic tasting names assigned by its tasting panel, and bottles every cask at natural strength without colouring or chill-filtration. The release was distilled in 2002 and bottled in 2016, with a small outturn of 210 bottles, for the German market, at 60.1% 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. From 1974 to 2007 Benrinnes ran an unusual partial triple distillation system across six stills (two wash, two intermediate, two spirit), with the feints splitting and recombining in a way that has been compared to a two-and-a-half pass distillation. Vapours from all stills 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.

Ex-Bourbon American white oak (Quercus alba) was charred for the original bourbon fill, breaking down lignin into vanillin and syringaldehyde and releasing whisky lactones from the wood. Against Benrinnes' meaty, sulphury new make, the refill bourbon cask lets the distillery character show clearly, with soft oak vanilla and coconut running alongside the savoury, beef-stock undertones the worm tubs produce.