Murray McDavid was originally founded by Mark Reynier (ex-Bruichladdich), Simon Coughlin and Gordon Wright (ex-Springbank), but since 2013 it is the bottling brand of Aceo Ltd, one of the larger players in whisky brokering. While most of what they do is buy casks, mature them and sell them to other independent bottlers, some of the casks also hit the market under their own label.
We’ll be trying a young Benriach and Dalmunch. Both are interesting for their secondary finishing period. The Benriach is finished in Koval casks, a Chicago based kosher distillery known for its bourbons and ryes.
For the Dalmunach they used small PX barriques from the small and slightly deviant winery Ximénez-Spínola. These are generally not seasoned for the whisky industry, but actually used in one of their soleras. If I’m not mistaken, their barriques are made of French oak.
Benriach 8 yo 2013 (46%, Murray McDavid ‘Benchmark’ 2022, Koval bourbon finish, 1195 btl.)
Nose: light and accessible, mostly on pear sweetness with white flowers and barley sugar. Then big vanilla marshmallows with hints of apricot and honey. After a while it gets greener and more sherbety. Pleasant, as long as you don’t mind (slightly biting) fresh oak shavings as well – that must be the newish (and rather small) Koval casks.
Mouth: more of this fresh oak profile. Vanilla in the lead. Then ginger and white pepper with herbal touches, along with barley sugar and green fruits. Sharpness with some oily hints, green bananas, apples and plain malt. Not bad but rather boring.
Finish: medium, with increasing amounts of baking spice. White pepper and buttery vanilla until the very end.
In my opinion Benriach needs more time to really show its merits. Of course the Koval casks lend it vanilla and spiciness, but overall it’s not really exceptional. Still available from Master of Malt for instance.
Dalmunach 7 yo 2016 (48,5%, Murray McDavid ‘Benchmark’ 2023, Ximénez-Spinola PX barrique finish, 2062 btl.)
Nose: my god, so creamy! Really buttery and custardy, with plenty of milky notes, biscuits and praline. After a while this settles upon more fruity notes. Baked apples and blood oranges, walnut and almond paste, subtle hints of raisins and cinnamon.
Mouth: more toffee and caramel sweetness, mixed with raisins and milk chocolate. Malty biscuits again, along with cinnamon and roasted almond. Then it moves towards latte and Café Noir biscuits with hints of salted caramel. Mild nutmeg and pepper too.
Finish: medium length, on caramel, pepper and toast.
Ximénez-Spínola has some rather unique PX wines (not all of them fall within the D.O. Jerez), so it’s safe to say their casks aren’t always classic either. Indeed this is not your typical PX matured whisky, it goes more towards nutty notes, pepper and latte. I like it. For this one check Whiskysite.nl. Score: 87/100