Benromach stands on the western edge of Speyside at Forres, a small distillery with two stills and a long memory. Closed in 1983 and silent for fifteen years, it was bought by the independent bottler Gordon & MacPhail in 1993 and recommissioned in 1998 by the Prince of Wales. The house style the new owners chose was deliberate: a lightly peated Speysider in the pre-1960s tradition, before Speyside became synonymous with unsmoked malt.
The 21 Year Old is the oldest regular expression in the core range and shows what patience does to that house style. Matured in a combination of first-fill sherry and bourbon casks, it arrives at 43% ABV with the colour of polished walnut. The sherry influence is generous without being heavy-handed, and the distillery's signature hint of smoke — around 10 to 12 parts per million phenols, a fraction of an Islay malt — has settled into something closer to damp leaves and ember than peat reek.
There is a pleasing old-fashioned quality here. It tastes like a whisky that could have been bottled in 1955, which is precisely the effect Gordon & MacPhail were after. Not a fireworks display, but a long quiet conversation by a cooling hearth.
