Benrinnes 26 Years OId The Bottlers Cask 3229 57.4% 1982

Professionele reviews

Serge Valentin (90)

Did I already tell you how happy I was to see that Edinburgh’s The Bottlers are still quite active? Colour: full amber. Nose: all on dry sherry at first nosing, very flinty and almost smoky, developing on sweeter and richer notes such as sultanas and prunes. Refill, really? Smells almost like first fill. With water: became ueber-flinty and quite rooty/earthy as well. New leather jacket (a perfecto, if you like). Mouth (neat): perfect! Orange marmalade and spice mix for mulled wine. Quite some pepper as well and bags and bags of cinnamon. The oak’s perfect. With water: even more cinnamon. Finish: long, rather dry. A lot of nutmeg and cinnamon yet again. Grape pips. Comments: great whisky if you like dry sherry. Not exactly winey, the cask imparted a very pleasant kind of smokiness.

Words of Whisky (91)

An explosive dram if there ever was one.
Nose
Insanely intense and dry sherry, while the sulphur is (surprisingly) kept to a minimum. Only a sliver of gun powder. Somewhat herbal (juniper and menthol), but also very leathery with loads of cigar tobacco and whiffs of brown sugar and cocoa powder, while even displaying a wee bit of lavender. There's roasted coffee beans and raisins too, accompanied by a quick hit of red wine vinegar.
Taste
Oh yeah, there's the sulphur. Talk about gun powder. Plenty of rubber and plastic too. Yet, I don't actually mind. It makes for a rough and tumble experience that's really worthwhile, but probably not for everyone. Lots of cinnamon and plums, with soft blackcurrants, as well as some very strong, dark roasted coffee. Let's say an espresso, or a caffè normale, as the Italians call it. Bitter chocolate and really dry, yet creamy. Dirrrrty AF.
Finish
Lingering bitterness, cinnamon and cocoa powder. Extremely long.

BOW (91)

whisky gospel wrote:

Nose: Heavy sherry nose with tons of dried fruits, a bit of smoke, sweet raisins and sultanas, prunes and cinnamon, thick and chewy, muted oak spices. After letting it sit in the glass for a couple of minutes there’s dark caramel and the it is spicier. Hey, there’s tobacco too now!
Palate: Explosive! Dark old sherry, even a bit sour, smoke, cinnamon by the bucket, oranges, tobacco, spice, dry. Leather on the back-end.Finish: Loooooong finish. Old sherry, overdose of nutmeg, cinnamon, a bit of leather and tobacco.Thoughts: Oh mama what a dram! Is that a refill cask? seriously? I bet the first round was real short! It’s your ultimate sherry bomb with a explosive palate and a mammoth finish. Only thing one can nitpick here is the extra nutmeg notes but for me it’s an almost perfect.