Whisky: BenRiach 21 Year (1997), Chieftain’s for K&L

Country/Region: Scotland/Speyside

ABV: 56.5%

Cask: Rum Barrel Finish

Age: 21 Years (Distilled 1997, Bottled 2019)

Nose: Subtle tropical citrus, malty cereals, and sugary candies. Orange, pear, and raspberry candies paired with rich molasses biscuits and steel-cut brown sugar oatmeal. A smattering of dried fruits and apple slices appeared with subtle herbs and honeysuckle. A filling breakfast with cream of wheat, orange juice, and dried fruits.

Palate: Medium-bodied with notes of fruit, malt, and oak. Malty sugars crashed across the palate with more subtle dried fruits– pears, apples, oranges, and persimmons. Hints of salt and tropical fruits brought green mango and soy sauce to mind, while floral-herbal notes peeked out behind malty biscuits, oatmeal cookies, and brown sugar. Slightly bitter toward the end with oak and orange peel.

Finish: Lingering notes of malt, brown sugar, and subtle pepper.

Score: 5

Mental Image: Flannel Blankets and Warm Oatmeal

Notes: I hate to say it, but BenRiach just does not seem to click for me. This attractive twenty-something single cask, kissed with a rum barrel finish at the end, sounded like it should be delicious. To be sure, this was not bad whisky by any measure, but it seemed a bit plain-jane. I am not sure if it was the dried fruits or malty sugars, but BenRiach always feels a bit boring. Perhaps the problem is not with BenRiach; rather, it is my propensity for sometimes strange malts. I expected this to be slightly different from the bog-standard Speyside single malt, but the rum cask left behind very little influence besides a few slightly tropical notes on the nose and palate.

One cannot expect to love every single dram and distillery, but it is always a bit odd when one does not seem to click—especially when, like BenRiach or Highland Park, they are otherwise quite popular. There was nothing wrong with this bottle, but, in my estimation, it did not feel far above average.

Sometimes, the moment I assign a score to a whisky gives me a great deal of pause. For this dram, that pause was about six months from when I first drafted the review and when I finally came back to retaste and wrapped things up. This was a fine, inoffensive malt, so what score best encapsulates a “meh”? The score is absolutely subjective to my taste, but sometimes a “meh” could be a four, five, or a six. Even then, I wondered if I should score a bit higher because there was not a lot wrong here, I just found it to be a bit of a shrug.

Overall, a fine malt sure to please fans of the BenRiach-stan-club (of which I am not a card-carrying member). I thought it was a bit boring and wished the rum cask had imparted more influence on the spirit. Still, the age statement was properly impressive (a dram that can legally drink itself in the US), and the flavor profile was inoffensive.

Image Credit: Whiskybase