Benriach – 16 Year Old (70cl, 43%)

Benriach 16 Year Old, known as The Sixteen, is a fruit-led Speyside single malt in a 70cl bottle at 43%. It marries whiskies of at least sixteen years from ex-bourbon, ex-sherry and virgin oak casks, the last being fresh oak that has held no spirit before. Its bronze colour comes only from cask maturation, and it is chill-filtered. Developed by Rachel Barrie and her team, it returned in November 2022 in selected markets with a revised recipe, filling the gap between the distillery's twelve and twenty-one year olds. The nose offers baked apple, creamy malt and hazelnut, with apricot, ginger and honey. On the palate come spiced stewed apple, stone fruit, mild nutty oak and candied peel. The medium finish brings cinnamon, vanilla and malty sweets.