Benrinnes 20 Years Old 1997 (Cadenhead’s)

Benrinnes 20 Years Old 1997 (Cadenhead's) is a 20 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 William Cadenhead, established in Aberdeen in 1842 and the oldest independent bottler in Scotland. Owned by J & A Mitchell of Springbank, Cadenhead's bottles at cask strength without colouring or chill-filtration. The release was distilled in 1997 and bottled in 2017, with an outturn of just 162 bottles, for the French market, at 55.5% 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. Typical tasting notes include vanilla, citric, fresh fruit, solvent, dried fruit and green-house.