Honest whisky reviews without marketing nonsense

The Benromach 11 Years (2010/2022) Contrasts Peat Smoke is an experimental single malt from Speyside, in which Benromach audibly turns up the use of peated barley. It was matured exclusively in first-fill bourbon casks; added to that are 57 ppm and a vintage design that refers to the once hand-painted sign above the kiln as well as the distillery's red gates. Sounds like a grand performance, but in the glass it would rather charmingly trip over its own shoelaces.

Benromach 12 Years (2012/2024) Contrasts High Enzyme is a single malt from Speyside, made with enzyme-rich, unpeated barley. This raw material choice, otherwise more common for grain whisky, noticeably shapes the fermentation process and leads here to an independent, distinctive profile. In the glass, it shows a rather mild character, but one clearly focused on freshness, malt, and edgier accents.

Benromach is primarily known for reviving a lightly peated Speyside style, but the Contrasts Unpeated deliberately shows the other side of the distillery. This nine-year-old single malt from Bourbon and Sherry casks comes in at 46 % vol. and clearly focuses on an unpeated, approachable aromatic profile.

Kavalan Triple Sherry Cask (2021) positions itself as a link between the standard bottlings and the single cask bottlings of the Taiwanese distillery. Matured in Oloroso, Pedro Ximénez, and Moscatel sherry casks, this single malt clearly focuses on a rich, sherry-driven profile. The design also points to its origin: the silver lines under the cork represent the mountain ranges around the distillery, while the water filtered through volcanic rock used forms the background of this bottling.