BenRiach 12 Year Old The Smoky Twelve - 70cl/46%

Distillery History:
BenRiach is in Speyside, built in 1898 by John Duff and restarted in 1965. In the 1970s it returned to Highland peat, one of the few Speyside sites to run peated and unpeated spirit together. Brown-Forman bought it in 2016; Rachel Barrie is master blender. The core range is built on three-cask maturation. The Smoky Twelve is the peated counterpart of The Twelve; official smoke level is Rich.

Whisky Introduction:
Peated and unpeated spirit, at least twelve years in bourbon, sherry and Marsala. Bourbon brings vanilla, sherry dark chocolate and peel, Marsala a wine sweetness. Highland peat here is sweet smoke, not Islay iodine. Natural colour, 46%. Versus The Smoky Ten (bourbon, Jamaican rum, virgin oak), this is more chocolate, orange peel and wine-cask spice. Double gold at the 2021 San Francisco World Spirits Competition; 93 points at the Ultimate Spirits Challenge.

Tasting Notes:
Nosing: Smoked vanilla, charred orange and toasted almond.
Palate: Dark chocolate, fruit peel, brown sugar and smoked oak.
Finish: Cocoa and orange smoke.