Benromach Origins 12 year old, Batch 2, 50%, $80
The newest member of the ever-expanding range hailing from Gordon & MacPhail’s own distillery in Forres. This example has been aged in port pipes — and it shows immediately on the nose. Benromach is a teasing mid-weight Speysider, and this has added depth of sweet damson jam-like aromas mixed with Seville orange (marmalade) and some milky nut. Rich fruitcake flavors on the tongue. This is a very well balanced and precocious 12 year old. Worth a look.– Dave Broom
Advanced Malt Advocate magazine rating: 84
After reading this blog for years, I’ve become very used to John’s reviews and ratings. Reading the tasting notes from Dave, I would have expected a rating in the upper 80′s or low 90′s. I’m trying to figure out if Dave’s a tough scorer or if he thinks 84 is a real good whisky.
All the writes use the same rating scheme that I do, and I think they are doing a very good job of it. I think you will just have to get used to the different way each writer describes though.
Incidentally, I have tasted this whisky on several occassions and would have rated it about the same.
John, thanks for the work you do in getting all of this whiskey news out to us.
Just a comment:: It seems that Single Malt Scotch prices are going thriugh the roof! Additionally, the ratings of some of them don’t warrant the price. I realize that international transportation, duties and taxes are part of the mix (I’d really like to know by what percent). I look forward to the time when we have serious single malt scotch production here in the U.S.
Man I’ll be middle aged before any US malt distillery, which hasn’t even been started yet, has the stocks of aged whisky needed to make something good.
Then again, I guess there’s always Stranahan’s. When will they start putting out some aged stock?