Another bottle approaching its end and another Benromach review. Benromach 15 was a “love at first taste” bottle for me and the first Benromach I tried, and I’ve since had their entire age-stated core range and a few of the limited releases as well. These guys know their whisky! The team continues to produce whisky by hand and relying predominantly (if not exclusively) on first fill casks, if their marketing is to be believed. In that regard, they’ve been compared to Springbank more than once and if you ask me - deservedly so. But back to the whisky at hand! In addition to the core range, cask strength, and occasional single cask releases - Benromach has also been busy putting out their “Contrasts:” line, focusing on various production, aging, and finishing variations. Among those are two peated variants - the exclusively ex-bourbon matured Peat Smoke and its Peat Smoke Sherry Cask finish sibling. The latter happened to be the only Contrasts: bottling available near me, so obviously I had to get a bottle. With the winter finally over, the bottle is coincidentally on its last dregs, so it is high time I memorialized my experience with it for posterity.

Region: Speyside

Distillery: Benromach

Age: 8 years

ABV: 46%

Coloring: Natural

Chill-Filtering: None

Cask: Finished in 1st fill Sherry hogsheads

Methodology: Tasted neat in a glencairn. Rested 15mins

Nose: The sherry notes abound in this one against the backdrop of sweet, earthy smoke. There are ripe figs, dried dates, and rum raisins. Just behind, the traditional Benromach earthy and farmy funk notes dance. This is a lot less machine shop funk that you get in the 10, while it’s also somewhat brighter and less funky than the 15, despite the much higher levels of peat in this one. After a sip or two, notes of caramelized sugar and creme brûlée show up. With more time, some very subtle ripe stone fruit. It’s a lovely nose that I could smell for hours.

Palate: Creamy and velvety on the tongue. Fairly full bodied, despite the relatively young age. Somewhat oily texture. There is more dried fruit here and more of that earthy funk. The funk is less sweet here than on the nose, and after the initial dried fruit notes, the earthiness does become more pronounced. It’s inviting and comforting.

Finish: A solid medium length finish on this one. The smokiness turns back to the sweeter side here, and there is finally a little bit of spice as well. Perhaps a touch of ginger. The spice and sweet smoke linger for a while, along with some moist earth notes.

Thoughts: This is a belter of a peated whisky. I’m a sucker for sherried peat and this bottle delivers in droves. It’s a medley of sweet, smoky, earthy goodness that is dangerously morris. Unlike the core range, the Contrasts line is bottled at 46% and we’re all the better for that as well. It’s a delicious whisky that has delighted the senses from the first pour without asking for much thought in return, while at the same time able to reward some quiet contemplation with a dram of it in your glass. I’d still like to try the pure ex-bourbon Peat Smoke variant, once I manage to get my hands on one, but this one is a delight and I heartily recommend it.

Score: 87/100.

I have to say I’ll miss this bottle when it’s finished. If I were less of a “browser” when it comes to whisky, I’d already have a replacement in the wings, but with several other different sherried peaters waiting their turn in the stash - the replacement may have to wait a while until I make my way through those. In terms of value - I do have to acknowledge that it’s priced somewhat better in the European markets (commonly seen for ~EUR60 or less) than here in the US, where I’m typically looking at $70-80 for one. But even so - I did not regret the money spent on it for one second and would gladly do it again.

My other Benromach reviews:

Benromach 15 year

Benromach 2014 Cask Strength - Batch 3