Batch 217

Big and sweet, with the aroma of scented wood, a hint of patchouli and incense, then baking fruit with a background of dry earth. Has some distillery fruitiness and more mature depth than you might expect from its age. Adding water produces chocolate truffle, deep, rich coconut, and more oak.

The start is very soft, with lemon and gently yielding pulpy fruits that move into a soft, pillowy mid-palate with some of the vinous quality of PX – more wine-like than the dense raisins of the solera-aged fortified version. Things then pick up with BenRiach’s signature spicy kick with some dusty/plummy, fresh fig elements emerging retronasally before it starts to steadily become more oak-driven. Water accentuates the spiciness, but also brings peach, caramel and sultana into play.

Thickens and sweetens.

A whisky that’s on the cusp, with the oak making a big bid for dominance.

Plucking fruit from the Fig Tree.

Starts promisingly with a mixture of pancake batter, coconut, pavlova and custard on a warm pear tart. Behind all of that is a touch of barley and cut grass. Water makes things slightly more citric (Amalfi lemon) and greener.

No great surprise that it’s light and fragrant to start – sweet pea and angelica, with some mashed banana. There is however more of a drying oaky element in the middle (hot sawdust) and this then moves into drying spice, lemon sherbet and a surprising amount of heat, given the strength. Holds up pretty well with water as the grassiness returns, now with more overt vanilla.

Spiced-up ginger beer.

American oak is the main driver here, but it’s well handled. An easy-going, straight-down-the-middle dram.

One that comes From The Morning.

A slightly unusual mixture of silver polish and beeswax to start with, then some daffodil and birch wine, before the distillery’s lily-of-the-valley signature character comes through. It’s hot though. Water seems to make things more concentrated with bergamot, more waxiness and pineapple.

A hot start with a sweet/sour mixture and thick texture which expands on the middle, before the heat starts to burn. In other words, you need water. This shows it to be one of the waxier ‘Craigs’, with weight and solidity. Again a slightly odd note – this time it’s felt – before more classic cooked pineapple and a light, almost smoky, sulphury back note. Maybe lacking in overall complexity given its age.

Fruits with a twang of acid.

Bright, yet also mature; tight, yet fruity. A conundrum.

So… Lillies? What are they doing there?

Very sweet and fresh to begin with: dolly mixtures, pear drops (plus soor plooms for the Scots among you) and foam bananas. Water lightens it further, also adding in talcum powder, white miso and charcoal.

You expect energy and drive, and while there’s some gingery elements and green apple to kick off with, things become flabby, and it collapses on the tongue with flickers of cinnamon and rosewater. That powdery quality on the nose adds a drying element. Water sweetens things, but while it tries to cling on, the centre cannot hold.

Light, drying oak; peppery.

I read this as Flaming Beast which was a bit of a surprise given what was in the glass. The flames appeared to have been extinguished. The cask underplayed.

For all that You Can Never Hold Back Spring.

A classic Sherry bomb with aromas of old shoe leather/old briefcase, then a mixture of damson, prune and fig as well as a savoury element of beef in fermented black bean sauce. Dry. A drop of water keeps things thick and sticky: varnish or treacle… take your pick.

There’s some of ’Dronach’s burly farmer qualities, but it’s dry, dry, dry. The tannins grip the throat like a serial killer, then there’s roasted chilli and pure cacao. Water gives glimpses of what it would have been a few years before; black fruits, raisin and toffee, but they’re hidden behind this wall of tannin and a Szechuan pepper-like numbing quality.

Leathery and tannic. Bitter.

It takes a lot for a cask to overwhelm GlenDronach, but that’s what has happened here. But, hey, some folks love this style. Whisky is a broad church.

For those who aren’t afraid to Touch The Leather.

Resinous and rich – a luthier’s workshop – but while obviously oak-driven, there’s some Seville orange peel, and cubeb [Java pepper] before you head back into a swirl of wood oils. Rich and powerful, though you do begin to wonder where the Pulteney is. Water begins to answer that, for as well as raisin there’s dried flower, cherry and sage. You’ll want to smell this for ages.

Softer than you expect, with an oily feel, sesame and fresh tangerine. Here the tannins are supple and while the oak is in charge – autumn woods and clove – when water is added, there’s some fruit (dried peach, black grape), and a mineral element that’s suggestive of the distillery.

Espresso.

Another where the oak has muscled to the front like the tall guy who decides to stand in front of you at a gig. Saved by the nose.

A freshly rosined bow starts to play Tchaikovsky.