At times La Maison du Whisky releases interesting sample packs of new releases and one of them included this Benrinnes 2010, bottled recently in their Artist Collective series. Contrary to the cask strength Artist range, these bottlings are slightly more accessible at 48% ABV. The labels are designed by different artists.
This Benrinnes is a combination of two sisters casks with a sherry butt finish.
Benrinnes 11 yo 2010 (48%, La Maison du Whisky ‘Artist Collective 5.4’ 2021, first fill sherry butt finish, 2 casks, 1639 btl.)
Nose: quite elegant. You can feel some modern PX influence (raspberry pastry, cherry candy, baked apricot) but mostly some fresh oak as well. Rose petals and orange flower. Shortbread, mint and hints of varnish.
Mouth: malty attack, with spices taking over quickly. Lots of earthy notes, wee hints of bitter herbs and burnt sugar. Also roasted hazelnuts and chestnuts. Hints of black pepper and nutmeg. Dark cocoa. Leathery notes and tobacco leafs. The fruit is still there, but in an eau-de-vie kind of way, thinner and more in the background. At times this made me think of Bunnahabhain…
Finish: long, still very earthy, with dark malt beer, dark brew tea and oak spice.
This one felt a little engineered, with some some balanced fruity and floral sherry on the nose but a little too much European oak spice on the palate. Quite autumnal. Not the character I expected from Benrinnes, but an interesting outsider. Around € 130 from LMdW.