BenRiach Aged 16 Years

Next up is a BenRiach 16 Year Old.  I have done a couple of reviews on BenRiach before, the Smokey 12 was actually the first review I posted and I did another that was a SMWS release.  I enjoyed both and thought they were both aptly priced for the tasting experience.  Let’s see how this fares.

ABV: 46%

How it smells…apple cider, banana, acetone, a little perfumey 

How it tastes….a bit watery on the start but then the flavors start kicking in.  A little briney with some fruitiness and malt at the end.  The finish is a little drying with the sip crescendoing in cayenne pepper.

Price…. $120 - $130 (I can’t quite remember)

Rating...🥃🥃

Final thoughts….this was a bit of a disappointment if I’m being honest.  I had some pretty high expectations as I generally have liked my other sipping experiences with BenRiachs in the past.  The taste was fine….nothing memorable,  but certainly not a bad taste by any means.  The price is mainly what turns me off on this bottle.  When I saw it on the shelf in that $120-$130 range, I thought it was a steal....but alas, if it looks too good to be true, it usually is.  It does appear that this may have been a much older release as the new BenRiach labeling doesn’t look anything like this bottle and the 16 Year Old is not in the core line up anymore.  Whisky Advocate gave this bottle an 83 rating at $90 back in 2006, which seems about right.   My 2x 🥃 is appropriate as the taste didn’t excite me, but it wasn’t terrible…yet I would never buy it again at this price point.  If it were a $60 bottle?  Maybe, but even then there are better bottles to get at that price.

On the taste side, there’s just not a lot of nuance to it.  You get some watered down fruit and malt (how can a 46% scotch taste watery?) then some spicy heat at the end that dominates your mouth.  Maybe this would be decent in a Scotch Bloody Mary?  I tend to love spicy things, but I want something else to complement the heat and this sip lacks that balance.  Overall, I’m glad that BenRiach seems to have discontinued this one and I will be more wary of “steals” in the future.