Founded by John Duff, this Speyside distillery first opened its doors in 1876. Not exactly a newcomer to the scene, then, so how come you haven’t heard of it? Okay so that may be presumptuous, but a lot of people haven’t. This is largely because most of the whisky distilled goes into blends such as Haig, and what is released as a single malt hasn’t received much attention in whisky circles.
Update: this whisky has been discontinued.
Having heard mixed reviews of this whisky, which several of my dear friends decided to purchase around the same time quite at random, I thought I’d have to give it a go to settle the dispute. BenRiach is a speyside distillery, established around 1898 but closed soon thereafter to be reopened in 1965 by Glenlivet. Since then it has changed hand several times, from Glenlivet to Chivas to Pernod and finally purchased by an independent consortium in 2004 after having, once again, been mothballed by Pernod in 2002.
It is because of days like today that I couldn’t possibly leave this place. Many are the times when I’ve thought about packing my bags and selling everything I don’t need, to leave the coldness of the Scottish winter and move to South-east Asia for good. But then comes spring, then comes summer, and the stunning beauty of my beloved city reminds me of why I haven’t yet, and never will, let the winter scare me away. To the suns tingling warmth, to the golden rays that bring out the lustre in cold stone of which Edinburgh is built, to the proud Scottish people and to the magnificent grandeur of Auld Reekie – I raise my glass, of The Singleton of Dufftown!
Glenfarclas, Valley of the green grass, a fantastic Speyside distiller indeed. Unfortunately all I know of its history is that the distillery was founded around 1836, and that is has been run by the Grant family for 6 generations.
The 15 year old expression which I’m taking a look at today is priced at about £35 ($55) which makes it exceptionally good value for money. I don’t know if I should say this quite so publicly (though I am surely flattering myself in considering that anyone from the distillery should stumble upon my humble blog), but I would gladly pay near the double for a bottle of this outstanding whisky.
Before I begin the review I would like to direct any fellow history fans to my review of Aberlour 10, as I wrote a paragraph or two about the distillery history there and as such I don’t want to waste valuable Internet space (I’ve heard it’s running out) with duplicate information. Today I’ll be writing about Aberlour A’bunadh, of which I have had several drams from the different batches but unfortunately I do not own one myself.
I can’t quite decide whether I like single barrel expressions or not. The arguments pro single barrel are that it offers a bit of variation without, necessarily, being all too different from what you know and love (assuming you’ve had a sip from one bottle, liked it, and gone on to purchase another). It lets you find an expression you like and offers enough variation for you not to get too bored too quickly, meaning you can buy it over and over. As great as that is, it also means that you can buy a bottle and absolutely love it, drink it all, purchase another thinking it will be the same – but more often than not it simply won’t be. The subtle differences, then, can be a source of both joy and tears.
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