The Benriach distillery has had a fairly unfortunate and turbulent past, with fortunes coming and going and the distillery going through several regenerations. With its origins dating back to 1898, the site was built on a hill (Ben) on the Riach farm, the dust seems to have finally settled with a slick operation and growing arsenal of single malt scotch whiskies available. The history of the distillery can be found here.
The latest (and most stylish!) of the distillery’s iterations came in 2020 with Dr Rachel Barrie at the helm. The distillery’s classic fruit-laden character is at the heart of each of their releases captured within a modern restyling of your more familiar and significant milestone age statements: 10 years old, 12 years old, 16 years old, 21 years old, 25 years old, and 30 years old. The younger entrants each get an unpeated and peated version. The core range expressions are stylised simply be being spelled out, and simple as it is, it makes quite the impact: The Original Ten, The Smoky Ten, The Twelve, The Smoky Twelve, The Sixteen, and so on.
Here we look at the flagship entrant to the line-up: The Original Ten – a single malt scotch whisky that has been matured a cross a series of 3 casks, namely ex-bourbon barrels, ex-sherry casks, and new virgin oak casks. The whisky is captured at its natural “cask-imparted colour” and at a decent 43% ABV. At the time of writing a 70cl bottle of The Original Ten is readily available in the UK for ca. £36 GBP.
Nose
An initial big billow of malt, oak, and vanilla show immediate classic scotch characteristics. Those sweet and grassy notes are joined by orchard fruit smells of apple and pear. The sweetness is almost candy floss-like after a few moments, with toffee and caramel notes joining. The notes are rounded out by a grassy/hay smells and a touch of cinnamon.
Taste
Crisp toffee apple flavours arrive early doors. Once it settles in, there is a really good malt profile on display despite its 10 years in cask: Butterscotch and barley sugars really stand out. The whisky’s trio of oak influences that start to slowly build with gentle pepper warmth and cinnamon heat.
Finish
Those casks see things out with oak spices gently simmering away and leaving the sweet vanilla of the oak and apple flavour of the spirit behind.
Verdict
This is a classic, bare bones, 10 year old single malt scotch whisky. I’m quite enamoured with this. The rebrand added some modern class to the Benriach brand, and I can see why they stand behind this whisky to call it “The Original”. It is a stand-up example of what their spirit is all about. There’s a good decision to give this a 43% ABV bottling strength as the alcohol gives some bite on the finish. Dilution would peter this out fairly quickly.
When I first came across BenRiach (as it was stylised at the time), I honestly got confused with Benromach. The Speyside Ben’s both had what I wanted though: classic malt bodies with gentle cask influences and nourishment.
What I remember of the predecessor (and ostentatiously titled) 10 year old Curiositas is that it had some fight about it and was a peated spirit. (See my old notes on that expression here). With The Original Ten, the unpeated spirit lets its origins show and displays Benriach’s spirit at play with gentle coaxing from the oak barrels. The distillery’s notes talk about a touch of smoke being present in The Original Ten, but I couldn’t exactly pick it out from this smaller sample (though I do remember it having a bit more smoke/peat when drinking for pleasure previously). Maybe that just melded with the cinnamon heat and oak spices from my notes above.
As you might be able to tell from the introduction and overview above, I am quite a fan of the recent rebrand of BenRiach/BENRIACH and the spirits I’ve tried to date have stood up to the hype.
Overall, we have an unpeated spirit that’s been well harnessed has formed the benchmark for the revised line-up, and I’m all for it. The power of a decade. The essential milestone in scotch and a classical play here, and calling it “The Original” makes sense to me. Light, warming, sweet, and satisfying.
M
Sample disclosure: This miniature was contained within the Master of Malt birthday gift set, very gratefully received from my colleagues. All notes are intended as an honest, fair, and independent review of the whisky itself, and not as a promotion. Please drink responsibly. Please drink wisely.
whisky unplugged 
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