Nice rewiev! That Benromach will be released in Sweden in about 3 weeks, the price will be around euro57, so quite a good price. I'm gonna try to get my hands on a bottle :)
1. Ardbeg Oogie my fave so far, but i just brought home a bottle of this Benromach; 2. Fave Benromach so far is the 15 though i usually buy the 10 as it is great and affordable. 3. Port charlotte 10 seems to have the perfect level of peat though i think with sherry a bit lighter toward the highland park or Bowmore style of peat is best.
Hmm. I guess I should be happy I got this at $65 USD all in. When I hear it gets a grade of a C I’m not so sure but It does sound like an enjoyable dram. I do like the older Benromach branding. It was fun to me:
'Sherry Finished' these days can literally mean anything. There's no guarantee at all that it's Oloroso. If it is Oloroso why not say so? It won't be any barrel that contained drinking sherry anyway. The term 'Sherry' has become has almost become a meaningless descriptor in today's whisky world. Auto-rant over we have some expectation of what to expect when 'sherry' is on the label. Even 'Sherry Finished'. Great info about the company and it's finances. Jason, have a look on the side of the bottle label. They do print that it's Natural Colour and Non-Chill-Filtered. I haven't had this one but I have had the 2012-2021 bottling. It kind of does what it says on the tin. Benromach distillery character with additional peat and sherry in the mix. If you like Benromach then you're going to like it. I'm guessing this has less sherry and probably isn't as good. Nevertheless, I like most Benromach offerings to a greater or lesser degree. In have to confess that I think the old label was way, way, better and the rumour mill has it that the change was initiated for a section of the foreign market that might struggle to read it. Cheers. WT
I'm not even close to being a peathead, but I really enjoyed this review..!!! I've never been able to acquire a taste for heavily peated Scotch. Favorite peated whiskey (these days) would be the Teeling Blackpitts and my favorite Benromach (the only one I have) is the 15 yo.
You say it yourself in the video, Jason: "it's not the ppm". There are more variables affecting how the peat smells/tastes than just the ppm measured as an *input*. There is a paradox in all metrics: they're important, but their pursuit often leads to perverse and distorting (e.g. organisational) outcomes. One could try to apply multi-dimensional metrics to the labels of bottles (or qr codes/websites), or one could simply rely upon customers learning what different distillery characters are like, learning that they often like, say, Benromach or Craigellachie, but perhaps not some others. You've earlier said you think relying on the latter (research, experience) is "so stupid", but maybe the former is no less so? Yes, numbers measure, but do they taste? Taste not only in all the senses, but also all the senses of the word. I really enjoy Benromach's character, particularly the industrial flavours, motor oil. It recalls a farm workshop and tractor shed with metal tools, everything coated in a layer of powdery dust-oil-grease. I don't think I like that simply due to nostalgia, but it is a memory from my youth. It's a different smell from a carpentry workshop. Also whitewashed stones or concrete blocks, dunnage warehouses, etc. As someone wrote on whiskybase, Benromach (15) is as subtle as a brick, but it has lots of character and appeals to me. Others with longer experience than mine have said they enjoyed earlier iterations of B more, i.e. they think it has been "softened" or "sweetened" somewhat. I have and enjoy the previous iteration of this, WB189724, which was sherry cask matured rather than finished. Neck pour was disgustingly sweet but it soon (weeks, days) settled down, and it's not the only B bottling that has needed some time to develop. A slight note of caution given your feelings about peat: you may need to try B bottlings such as their Contrasts Peat Smoke from bourbon barrels (~42ppm), just to see whether you still tolerate B's peat, or whether the factor of the above sherry overcoat was significant. Yes, we all think we'd enjoy B15 more if it was 46% rather than 43%, but I'm with Phil (WhiskyWednesday): it's a really good whisky as is/despite that. When enjoying it I don't find myself sitting there sighing with regrets, as may be the case with some other distilleries' 40-43% offerings. One doesn't get the feeling that it has been "gutted" or stripped of flavour, it's the numbers (metrics) making us think that, rather than the taste itself. I have a B cask strength 2009 but have held off opening it for now. Pretty sure I won't dislike it. Addendum: hmm, maybe what Jason really wants is to do himself out of a hobby? If multi-dimensional metrics, if numbers, really were able to capture the experience of taste, of a whisky, then would there be any further need for whisky reviews like the one above?
![I.N "HALLUCINATION" | [Stray Kids : SKZ-PLAYER]](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/n5B5q1Hwt_U/mqdefault.jpg)
Nice rewiev! That Benromach will be released in Sweden in about 3 weeks, the price will be around euro57, so quite a good price. I'm gonna try to get my hands on a bottle :)
Fingers crossed - Happy New Year!!
1. Ardbeg Oogie my fave so far, but i just brought home a bottle of this Benromach; 2. Fave Benromach so far is the 15 though i usually buy the 10 as it is great and affordable. 3. Port charlotte 10 seems to have the perfect level of peat though i think with sherry a bit lighter toward the highland park or Bowmore style of peat is best.
thanks Jason
Hmm. I guess I should be happy I got this at $65 USD all in. When I hear it gets a grade of a C I’m not so sure but It does sound like an enjoyable dram. I do like the older Benromach branding. It was fun to me:
many love it
Have you tried the Lum reek 10 Cask Strength? It's a beautifull one, I would love to see your review. I love your videos!
Not yet!
'Sherry Finished' these days can literally mean anything. There's no guarantee at all that it's Oloroso. If it is Oloroso why not say so? It won't be any barrel that contained drinking sherry anyway. The term 'Sherry' has become has almost become a meaningless descriptor in today's whisky world. Auto-rant over we have some expectation of what to expect when 'sherry' is on the label. Even 'Sherry Finished'.
Great info about the company and it's finances. Jason, have a look on the side of the bottle label. They do print that it's Natural Colour and Non-Chill-Filtered. I haven't had this one but I have had the 2012-2021 bottling. It kind of does what it says on the tin. Benromach distillery character with additional peat and sherry in the mix. If you like Benromach then you're going to like it. I'm guessing this has less sherry and probably isn't as good. Nevertheless, I like most Benromach offerings to a greater or lesser degree. In have to confess that I think the old label was way, way, better and the rumour mill has it that the change was initiated for a section of the foreign market that might struggle to read it. Cheers. WT
and the red color is great for Asia
Around £46 in the UK so a bit cheaper. Really enjoyed the 2022 version. Yet to try the 23.
Many people really like this in Germany
I'm not even close to being a peathead, but I really enjoyed this review..!!! I've never been able to acquire a taste for heavily peated Scotch.
Favorite peated whiskey (these days) would be the Teeling Blackpitts and my favorite Benromach (the only one I have) is the 15 yo.
Thanks Lorenz!
Einhorn is Finkle....Finkle is Einhorn!
OK ??
You say it yourself in the video, Jason: "it's not the ppm". There are more variables affecting how the peat smells/tastes than just the ppm measured as an *input*. There is a paradox in all metrics: they're important, but their pursuit often leads to perverse and distorting (e.g. organisational) outcomes. One could try to apply multi-dimensional metrics to the labels of bottles (or qr codes/websites), or one could simply rely upon customers learning what different distillery characters are like, learning that they often like, say, Benromach or Craigellachie, but perhaps not some others. You've earlier said you think relying on the latter (research, experience) is "so stupid", but maybe the former is no less so? Yes, numbers measure, but do they taste? Taste not only in all the senses, but also all the senses of the word.
I really enjoy Benromach's character, particularly the industrial flavours, motor oil. It recalls a farm workshop and tractor shed with metal tools, everything coated in a layer of powdery dust-oil-grease. I don't think I like that simply due to nostalgia, but it is a memory from my youth. It's a different smell from a carpentry workshop. Also whitewashed stones or concrete blocks, dunnage warehouses, etc. As someone wrote on whiskybase, Benromach (15) is as subtle as a brick, but it has lots of character and appeals to me. Others with longer experience than mine have said they enjoyed earlier iterations of B more, i.e. they think it has been "softened" or "sweetened" somewhat.
I have and enjoy the previous iteration of this, WB189724, which was sherry cask matured rather than finished. Neck pour was disgustingly sweet but it soon (weeks, days) settled down, and it's not the only B bottling that has needed some time to develop. A slight note of caution given your feelings about peat: you may need to try B bottlings such as their Contrasts Peat Smoke from bourbon barrels (~42ppm), just to see whether you still tolerate B's peat, or whether the factor of the above sherry overcoat was significant.
Yes, we all think we'd enjoy B15 more if it was 46% rather than 43%, but I'm with Phil (WhiskyWednesday): it's a really good whisky as is/despite that. When enjoying it I don't find myself sitting there sighing with regrets, as may be the case with some other distilleries' 40-43% offerings. One doesn't get the feeling that it has been "gutted" or stripped of flavour, it's the numbers (metrics) making us think that, rather than the taste itself. I have a B cask strength 2009 but have held off opening it for now. Pretty sure I won't dislike it.
Addendum: hmm, maybe what Jason really wants is to do himself out of a hobby? If multi-dimensional metrics, if numbers, really were able to capture the experience of taste, of a whisky, then would there be any further need for whisky reviews like the one above?
you caught me - maybe what I really want is to do myself out of a hobby - LOL
Peat/sherry: Loch Gorm.
NICE!