The BenRiach Distillery Company has launched 15 new whiskies, including a dozen single cask releases – its first since the business was sold to US spirits giant Brown-Forman.
The launches include 14 new expressions from BenRiach itself – 12 of them comprising the latest batch of the Speyside distillery’s single cask bottlings – plus a new GlenDronach special edition.
The whiskies, all available now, are being released four months after The BenRiach Distillery Company was sold to Jack Daniel’s owner Brown-Forman in a £281m deal.
The BenRiach single cask bottlings are the distillery’s 13th batch of releases, ranging in age from 16 to 40 years old and topped by the 1975, Cask 7028, bottled at 53% abv and a peated whisky matured in a Sherry butt.
All are hand-numbered, non-chill-filtered and bottled at natural colour, and were selected by master distiller Billy Walker.
He said: ‘Our much-anticipated batches allow us to identify very special casks in our inventory and every single cask bottling is an exclusive limited release.
‘I have selected these 12 casks because they are outstanding and full of personality.’
BenRiach also announced two changes to its core range: a new 17-year-old Pedro Ximénez (PX) Sherry Wood Finish expression replacing the previous 15-year-old bottling; and a new 21-year-old Tawny Port Wood Finish, replacing the similarly finished 15-year-old.
Both expressions are matured in ex-Bourbon barrels before receiving their respective finishes in PX and tawny Port casks.
BenRiach has long championed the use of PX casks to ‘finish’ its whiskies, believing that they add extra sweetness and richness.
The company has also re-released its GlenDronach 14-year-old Virgin Oak Wood finish special edition – an expression first seen in 2010.
Bottled at 46% abv at natural colour and non-chill-filtered, the whisky was matured in European oak casks before its virgin oak finish.
The BenRiach Distillery Company invested heavily in its whisky stocks in the year leading up to its acquisition by Brown-Forman, accounts filed in July this year showed.
