Benriach "The Smoky" 12 Year Single Malt Scotch Whisky
(Speyside, Scotland) - [WE 95] [WA 94, #3 Top 20 Of 2020] [IWSC 93]

Distillery Notes:
The Smoky Twelve is the perfect marriage of fruit,malt, oak and rich layers of smoke. Crafted from a combination of unpeated and peated spirit and three cask matured for at least twelve years in bourbon barrels, sherry casks, and Marsala wine casks. The whisky from each cask is then expertly married together to create a smooth, creamy single malt, multilayered with flavours of ripened fruit, aromatic smoky sweetness and warming oak spice.

Tasting Notes:
COLOR: Burnished gold
NOSE: Smoked vanilla, charred orange and toasted almond
TASTE: Dark chocolate, fruit peel, brown sugar and smoked oak, lingering into a cocoa and orange smoked finish
SMOKE LEVEL: Rich

NATURAL CASK-IMPARTED COLOUR ABV 46%

Awards/Reviews:

Double Gold - SF World Spirits Competition 2024, 2023

Double Platinum - Ascot Awards 2024

"Pleasant smoke and rich aromas of humidor and raisin. The palate is big and meaty with mesquite smoke and dark chocolate before finishing medium long with rich smoke."

95 Points - Wine Enthusiast

"Toffee and cocoa aromas nestle with mild peat on the nose. The palate mingles toffee and dark chocolate with dried cranberry and tart lemon peel. Adding water brings peat smoke and black pepper forward, plus a hint of anise and vanilla into the drying finish. This is a 12-year-old single malt matured in casks that held bourbon, Sherry and Marsala."

93 Points - Intl Wine & Spirits Competition 2023

"Curious sip, with lots of pine and wood notes with hints of smoke and gentle peat at the finish. Palate is well rounded with a meatiness that develops."

#3 - Whisky Advocate's Top 20 of 2020

"Benriach is a sleeper of a single malt, but thats about to change. Part of a 2020 relaunch of its core line, this grabbed our attention with its sophistication, breadth of flavors, and lovely refinement. Much of the credit surely goes to master blender Rachel Barrie for creating a smoky whisky that both peat lovers and the peat-wary can enjoy. Rather than medicinal intensity, the peat is redolent of gentle, sweetly smoky fruits that integrate seamlessly with notes of vanilla, toasted almond, chocolate, blueberry, and bacon. It beckons like the wafting smoke of a warming autumn bonfire, then welcomes with its lush and velvety embrace."