BenRiach 12 Sherry Wood
BenRiach has received a lot of attention over the years for their higher range age statements, both straight and peated series, as we’ve examined before. In recent years, the distillery has slimmed down the number of regular offerings, their flagship range now featuring a 10 year and this 12 year old. The BenRiach 12 Sherry Wood is sherry through and through, spending the entire maturation process before being finished with a mix of casks that once held Pedro Ximénez and Oloroso sherries. Whereas sherry is popular with finishing scotches, it is a rare scotch that can stand to spend the entire maturation process so.
SnapShot: Whiskyfabric Whirlwind 2
This series of SnapShot posts derives from whisky exchanges with various folks who are part of what is colloquially known as the Whiskyfabric, a term encompassing the online community of whisky writers, creators, reviewers and enthusiasts on social media. Over the past couple of years, we have exchanged whiskies via mail with a number of these fine people and collected the tastings in a series of posts based on some loose collective logic. This post contains various whiskies from around the world, predominantly Canada, France and Italy. Ever wonder what it’d be like to sit down to taste with us in the moment, with all our bias and palate preferences at the ready?
Port Charlotte 10 Year
The distillery of Port Charlotte lies two miles south of Bruichladdich facing Loch Indaal and is where the parent company’s peatier whiskies are distilled. Though the distillery was resurrected some years ago by Bruichladdich, the Port Charlotte 10 year is a recent addition to the stable of offerings. The barley used is from the Shire of Invernes, Scotland’s largest county, which covers parts of the northern Highlands and the Outer Hebrides. Even the casking is particular, with 75% of the maturation happening in first or second fill American whisky casks, and with 25% coming from second fill French wine casks. We assume that since the website does not list the exact American whiskies or French wines, it must mean there are many potential options and thus would be impossible to list for a uniform bottling expression.