BenRiach 23 A.D. Rattray

Thanks to /u/stinkysauce for this sample.

It’s 4:31am, my head is pounding, I’ve pulled the muscles in my stomach again, and I can’t blame it on excessive alcohol because I had all of 1 last night.

How are you doing?

That said, at least this gives me a moment to catch up on some reviews. As I’ve said before, I’m a sucker for BenRiach. I don’t love everything they do, however I find there’s a certain level in quality.

Also they make peated drams that make me weak in the knees like a school girl when the troops come marching in.

That was a little creepy. I’m going to blame the early hours. Yeah, that sounds about right.

Anyway, BenRiach 23 A.D. Rattray is part of the ever expanding and confusing A.D. Rattray line. Not confusing like “What’s this I’m drinking?”, more so confusing as I think they went out, bought some good whiskies, and made it a line.

So the same way a line is to a statistician at the end of the day. It’s there, the dots just don’t always line up to the rest of us.

So it’s a cask strength, single cask, and independent bottling. Also from a distillery on the rise over the past years that is checking off all the right things.

Not to mention that great giant R in the middle, which people seem to ignore much too often.

What else is to love? Oh, yeah, right, the entire whisky. Let’s see how it tastes, shall we?

Price: N/A in Canada

Distilled: 10.02.1989

Bottled: 05.20.2013

Cask #: 50066

Cask Type: Puncheon

Region: Speyside

Abv: 57.7%

Colour: 7.5Y 9/6

Nose: Lemongrass, grapefruit, sea salt, meringue, buttery popcorn, pear, whipped cream, lemon pop

Sweet and airy, but not in a way that airy may be considered a bad thing. I don’t know how. Let’s imagine that airy != watery. Ever. Why did we ever think that?

There’s a good amount of sweetness going on in the nose, with just the right amount of butter and earth to balance it out.

Taste: Pepper, anisette, white chocolate, pear, dry, salami, lime, peanut

I’ve said it before, and I’ll say it again: Perhaps I should have sought out the school nurse that time I slipped on my way to school and bent a bar with my head. Damn icy walkways.

Also I say that the BenRiach non-peated spirit needs a good amount of time in the cask to start developing. This is again one of those cases (that’s a pun because there’s salami flavour).

The taste has developed into a nice mixture of flavours. It’s starting to become more complex in a really nice way. I’m left wanting for more complexity of a 23 year old dram, however the spice aspects as well as the interesting notes are a good sign of things to come.

If, per say, this wasn’t a single cask and was already all dumped like a pregnant girl on prom night.

Finish: Lemon, curry, pear, prickly spice, pepper, steak, scallions, cream, hazelnut, butterscotch, yeast

Better finish than the taste, though I’m missing some of the sweetness that balanced out the earthier/meatier aspects, and left with a yeasty taste in my mouth.

Regret number three of sophomore year, am I right ladies?

Conclusion: So it’s a good dram. A great dram, even. The nose is interesting, and the taste is on it’s way. It’s not mind blowing amazing, don’t get me wrong. This won’t be the dram that converts anyone from vodka or rum.

It is a well put together dram. And contrary to my whinging about the taste needing more time, it was pulled before the nose would be lost. I’m not the biggest dry finish fan, however this was good. Someone who is may think it’s great.

Granted they won’t write about school fuck-ups and their dick, so who are you going to trust?

Oh, maybe still them. Because these are silly things. Good point.

Anyway, I’d recommend trying this one. I could even say, given the quality, it’s fine to pick up a bottle without trying, as it’s quite good.

85/100

Scotch review #419, Speyside review #128, Whisky Network review #651