Benriach recently presented a new core range and the cornerstones are a 10 Year Old and 12 Year Old, which both exist as a classic expression and a smoky version. Higher up there is still a 21, 25 and 30 Year Old of course.
Let’s look at the Benriach Original Ten first, which should have a multi-layered character due to its maturation in three types of wood: bourbon barrels, sherry casks and virgin oak casks.
Benriach 10 yo ‘The Original Ten’ (43%, OB 2020)
Nose: gentle, with plenty of green apples, sweet lemons, natural barley and hints of vanilla custard. Light floral honey, as well as some orange peel and caramel fudge. There’s some toasted oak in the background. After a while also a very subtle tropical hint.
Mouth: quite a soft entry, rather oily but fairly lightweight, with a big dose of creamy malt and a touch of wood chips. Now more stewed fruits like apple compote and hints of golden raisins. Some caramel again, as well as baking spice towards the end, cinnamon and nutmeg. Eventually a drying oaky note.
Finish: not too long, with more oaky spice and plain malty notes.
This new Original Ten has a nicely fresh nose, showing trademark orchard fruits with floral touches. On the palate it’s less characterful with the malt, wood and baking spice doing most of the talking. A decent daily dram. Already available from The Whisky Exchange or Master of Malt for instance.