Benromach Peat Smoke Review
Benromach is a Speyside distillery that is fairly well known amongst single malt aficionados, but not so well known to more casual whisky drinkers. Yet it seems like that may be changing, at least around here—quite a few different wine & spirit stores in Middle Tennessee have been hosting Benromach tasting events lately to bring attention to the brand, which only recently began to distribute their products to the area. In fact I’ve been seeing Benromach pop up more all over the US recently, which is happy news for whisky lovers, as the distillery makes some tasty single malts.
Benromach was originally founded during the “whisky boom” of the late 19th century and for much of its history created malt whisky primarily to be used in blended scotch. As with many whisky distilleries in Scotland, Benromach shut its doors for a few years in the 1980’s during a “whisky bust” period. The independent bottler Gordon & MacPhail bought the distillery in 1992 and has since brought it back to life, primarily as a single malt whisky. Although the distillery is one of the smallest in Speyside (in terms of capacity), they have expanded their distilling capacity by 40% recently due to their growing popularity.
Like the BenRiach Distillery (which I’ve previously reviewed), Benromach is one of the few Speyside distilleries who produce (some) heavily peated malt whisky. While their standard whiskies are peated at a mild to medium level (around 12ppm), their Peat Smoke series is a heavily peated single malt—peated at a whopping 67ppm according to the distillery’s website. For reference, Ardbeg, which is known to be one of the peatiest single malt whiskies, typically peats their malt at 55ppm. So yeah, this is heavily peated stuff. But alas, not all peated malt is created equal, as we shall see.
Although the Peat Smoke series does not include a specific age statement, it is vintage dated. My bottle was distilled in 2006 and bottled in 2015, meaning it is either 8 or 9 years old.
Benromach Peat Smoke Review
Type: Single Malt Scotch
Region: Speyside
ABV: 46%
Nose: Vanilla. Minerals. Hay. Sea shells. Toffee. Barley sugar. Unsmoked cigarettes. A hint of chocolate covered marshmallows. Not all that complex, but quite enjoyable. This is one of the only whiskies I can think of where I get little to no discernible fruit of any kind on the nose (which isn’t necessarily bad, just odd).
Palate: Gentle, mineral, earthy peat smoke. Vanilla extract. Mint. Bourbon oak. Mild tobacco. Hints of toffee. A vague allusion to some kind of unknown tropical fruit. Moderate body, fairly full, but not incredibly viscous. Like the nose, it’s not all that complex, but still very enjoyable.
Finish: Continuation of the palate. Vanilla mint. Drying oak. Tobacco. Moderate in length.
Overall: If you gave me this blind, I’m not sure I would have guessed it was a Speyside whisky—I could easily be fooled into thinking this was a moderately peated island malt. The mineral peat smoke reminds me quite a bit of Caol Ila (without the fruit). That said, the peat smoke is different than the big and smoky drams from the south shore of Islay (Laphroaig, Ardbeg, and Lagavulin)—it doesn’t have that same punch in the face, which isn’t necessarily a bad thing. And although it’s peated at a very high level, it doesn’t come across as a peat monster like those aforementioned Islay malts. The peat is certainly there, but it’s fairly gentle and nuanced.
This is not a particularly complex whisky, but I’m really enjoying it. It’s a nice summer dram, and it’s especially enjoyable along side a good cigar. I like this quite a bit.
Benromach has impressed me with everything I’ve tried from them so far. They are a distillery on the rise. If you see a bottle near you, give it a try.
Buy Again? Yes.
Score: 86/100
Questions about my scoring system? Refer to the Review Method & Scoring Scale page.
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