The Red Cask Co. is an independent bottling range from Global Whisky Ltd. in Glasgow (who also have the Auld Goonsy’s Malt series). Aimed at sherry lovers, each of the whiskies are (partly) matured in first fill sherry casks, giving them a dark red colour.
They have a wide variety of names in this series. Blair Athol and Caol Ila seem to be recurring distilleries, but they also did a 34 year old Invergordon for instance. Here we’re assessing a Benrinnes 2009 from an Oloroso sherry cask.
Benrinnes 12 yo 2009 (53,7%, The Red Cask Co 2022, first fill Oloroso sherry hogshead #312520, 288 btl.)
Nose: a light hint of gunpowder, but otherwise this shows rich plums, mossy notes and pipe tobacco. Meaty notes, butterscotch, hazelnuts and a whiff of smoke. A light hint of old cupboards too. Overall I’m missing a bit of fresher fruits perhaps, but I’m sure fans of darker, meatier sherry bombs will be delighted.
Mouth: quite earthy, with hints of figs and dates but also drying woody notes. Then bitter almonds. Ginger and black pepper. Roasted hazelnuts come out, as well as a light hint of mulled wine (cloves) and sandalwood. Fairly spicy with a bitter edge in the end.
Finish: long and herbal, on pepper, aniseed and clove, with a lingering dryness.
As I said before, Benrinnes is a good victim for this kind of sherry treatment. It’s a little on the dry and earthy side, but a fairly good expression. On the pricey side though, in my opinion. Available from Whiskysite.nl for instance (also samples).