Benrinnes 13 Years Old 2010 Cask #303273 (The Old Friends)

Benrinnes 13 Years Old 2010 Cask #303273 (The Old Friends) is a 13 year old single cask Benrinnes from the Speyside distillery, drawn from a single ex-Vin Doux Naturel cask, distilled under the modern double distillation regime at Benrinnes. This release was bottled by The Old Friends, an independent merchant selecting single casks of Scotch at natural strength. The release was distilled in 2010 and bottled in 2023, with a small outturn of 239 bottles, for the German market, at 51.4% 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.

This expression matured in Vin Doux Naturel casks, which carry forward their own residual character and oak compounds into the Benrinnes spirit alongside the meaty, sulphury new make profile produced by the distillery's worm tub condensers.