Nestled in the heart of Speyside in the town of Aberlour lies the Benrinnes distillery, founded back in 1826 the distillery was destroyed shortly after by floods before being re built by John Innes using the outbuildings from a local farmhouse in 1935 and was operating under the name of Lyne of Ruthrie. The distillery unfortunately went bankrupt and was sold to William Smith who changed the name to Benrinnes. Today the distillery runs with 6 stills ( 2x wash and 4 x spirit ) and has a capacity to produce 3.5 million litres of alcohol per year..

Todays review is the 2014 special release from Diageo, this 21yo has been matured solely in ex European sherry butts since 1992. Bottled at 56.9% abv this is one of 2,892 bottles produced.

Nose.. This starts off with some notes of oats and honey, or better still a bowl of muesli with a big dollop of rich honey.. Some malted notes and succulent fresh dates, figs and ripe banana surface along with a little Turkish delight and candied oranges..  Hints of matches and old cigar boxes wanders on by with a hint of burnt sugar and citrus peel..

Palate.. Spicy with a nice hint of bitter chocolate, dried fruits and a little oak.. The dried fruits are certainly more prominent on the palate and take control, a touch of ground coffee beans with a subtle burnt toffee note creeping in.

Finish.. Spiced fruit with a twist of oak.

Thoughts.. Another rather tasty offering from Benrinnes.. This release offers up some rather big, bold flavours with a very intriguing Nose, you can’t help just wanting to dive right in..

My thanks go to Colin Dunn from Diageo for this sample..