benriach distillery tour review

The BenRiach Distillery

Top ways to experience The BenRiach Distillery and nearby attractions

Most Recent: Reviews ordered by most recent publish date in descending order.

Detailed Reviews: Reviews ordered by recency and descriptiveness of user-identified themes such as waiting time, length of visit, general tips, and location information.

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THE BENRIACH DISTILLERY: All You Need to Know BEFORE You Go (with Photos)

• (2.37 mi) Laichmoray Hotel
• (2.33 mi) Travelodge Elgin
• (7.63 mi) Links Lodge B&B
• (2.76 mi) West End Guest House
• (5.25 mi) Ardgye House Bed and Breakfast
• (2.70 mi) Ada Turkish Restauarant
• (7.34 mi) Catch 79 Seafood Bistro
• (2.55 mi) Sunninghill Hotel
• (2.72 mi) The Drouthy Cobbler
• (2.67 mi) Spice Tandoori

The BenRiach Distillery

Top ways to experience The BenRiach Distillery and nearby attractions

Most Recent: Reviews ordered by most recent publish date in descending order.

Detailed Reviews: Reviews ordered by recency and descriptiveness of user-identified themes such as waiting time, length of visit, general tips, and location information.

Also popular with travellers

The BenRiach Distillery - All You Need to Know BEFORE You Go (2024)

• (3.80 km) Laichmoray Hotel
• (3.73 km) Travelodge Elgin
• (12.20 km) Links Lodge B&B
• (4.41 km) West End Guest House
• (8.40 km) Ardgye House Bed and Breakfast
• (4.32 km) Ada Turkish Restauarant
• (11.75 km) Catch 79 Seafood Bistro
• (4.08 km) Sunninghill Hotel
• (4.36 km) The Drouthy Cobbler
• (4.27 km) Spice Tandoori

The BenRiach Distillery

Top ways to experience The BenRiach Distillery and nearby attractions

Most Recent: Reviews ordered by most recent publish date in descending order.

Detailed Reviews: Reviews ordered by recency and descriptiveness of user-identified themes such as waiting time, length of visit, general tips, and location information.

Also popular with travellers

The BenRiach Distillery - All You Need to Know BEFORE You Go (2024)

• (3.80 km) Laichmoray Hotel
• (3.73 km) Travelodge Elgin
• (12.20 km) Links Lodge B&B
• (4.41 km) West End Guest House
• (8.40 km) Ardgye House Bed and Breakfast
• (4.32 km) Ada Turkish Restauarant
• (11.75 km) Catch 79 Seafood Bistro
• (4.08 km) Sunninghill Hotel
• (4.36 km) The Drouthy Cobbler
• (4.27 km) Spice Tandoori

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BenRiach distillery

Benriach whisky, house style, manufacturing.

Benriach is an extremely experimental whisky distillery in Scotland, in the heart of the Speyside. The distillery near Elgin has both mildly fruity classic Speyside whiskies and heavily smoky, oily single malts in its range. With an unpeated, peated and triple distilled range there is something interesting for every taste. Benriach has shown a good hand, especially in the area of ​​wood finishing.

The Benriach Distillery near the Speyside town of Elgin is a prime example of what can be achieved with good barrel management. The distillery’s outstanding single malts have been used for many decades in the blended whisky industry. Single malt fillings were hard to come by. Fortunately, this changed with the era of Billy Walker. Today, even after the change of ownership to Brown Forman, Benriach has a remarkable portfolio of extravagant single malts with a wide variety of flavor profiles.

What does Benriach Single Malt taste like? Benriach single malts are relatively different. There are very light, dry, smooth Benriachs, typical Speyside whiskies with a variety of fruit flavors. But Benriach also has heavily peaty, oily, very smoky whiskies in the range. Such diversity is rare in the Speyside. Like many other distilleries in Scotland, Benriach has experimented with a whole range of interesting wood finishes. A great range of rum, sherry, Madeira and port wine cask finishes were brought onto the market.

How is Benriach whisky produced? Benriach produces its whisky with the help of a 6.1 ton mash tun, 8 fermentation tanks and 4 stills. The two wash stills and two spirit stills are heated with steam. The water for Benriach comes from the nearby Bourmade spring and the malt is malted in its own malting plant. The period from 1999 to 2009 is an exception: in 1999 the malt soils were closed by Benriach and only since 2009 has the barley been malted at Benriach itself.

The first Benriach Single Malt was bottled in 1994. Previously, one could only discover Benriach through independent bottlings, the majority of the Benriach single malt makes its way into blends. Benriach generally refrains from adding color and cooling filtering their whisky.

The Benriach Whisky Distillery was founded by John Duff in 1898, a boom year for the whisky industry. In the same year the distillery was taken over by the nearby Longmorn distillery. When the Patisson crash sent shockwaves through the industry Benriach went bankrupt and 1900 saw the closure of the distillery. Only the malting plant remained in operation and supplied Longmorn with malt. The distillery remained closed for more than half a century. It wasn’t until 1965 that the Glenlivet Group revived Benriach. In 1978 Glenlivet was bought up by Seagram. Seagram merged with the Chivas Brothers and since 2001 to Pernod Ricard. Benriach fell victim to a portfolio streamlining under Pernod Ricard. The distillery was to be closed again.

Fortunately, Billy Walker was a willing entrepreneur. With the help of the money from South African investors, he took over the distillery and breathed new life into it again in 2004. Billy Walker has proven himself particularly good when it comes to handling the barrel storage and finishing aged whisky. The distillery was therefore independent for a long time because it was operated by the Benriach Distillery Company Ltd. was operated. In 2016, the American company Brown Forman acquired the three distilleries Benriach, Glenglassaugh and Glendronach. Billy Walker continues his work at GlenAllachie.

BenRiach factsheet

Benriach timeline:.

1898 : Established

.... : Purchased by Longmorn Distillery Co. Ltd.

1900 : Distillery went silent

1965 : Rebuilt by The Glenlivet Distillers Ltd.. All stills became steamheated

1977 : The Glenlivet Distillers Ltd. taken over by the Seagram Company Ltd. of Canada. Three stills. Floor maltings still in use

1990 : Floor maltings in use again

1999 : Owned by Chivas Brothers Ltd.

2004-May-4 : Sold to Intra Trading (Bill Walker, formerly Burn Stewart, Geoff Bell & Wayne Kieswetter) for app. £ 5.4 million

Can I tour BenRiach?

Yes BenRiach distillery is tourable. On Trip Advisor the distillery has been rated as excellent by 31 of 39 tours to date. This gives BenRiach an overall rating of 4.5

Latest reviews

Fantastic experience at Benriach Visitor Centre. Treated like royalty by Emma and Hannah. Stunning new visitor centre. Went to the tasting bar and had a few samples from the extensive tasting menu. Fully informed and educated by the fantastic hosts. Will definitely return when back in the area. We walked from Elgin which took around 40 minutes. Taxi back was £7. 5 stars is not enough. First class hospitality.

Visited the Distillery with guests from England, was warmly welcomed by Hannah who looked after us throughout the visit. Great selection of tastings, Hannah extremely knowledgeable and passionate on her explanation of the various whiskies and history of Benriach. A very enjoyable first experience at the Distillery and will definitely be back with guests, visitors and clients of Alba Whisky Tours and Tastings. Highly recommended.

My husband and I attended a private tour & tasting with two of our friends with Jill as our tour guide. She was fantastic!! She was able to answer all of our questions and broke down the distillation process in a way that was easy to digest. It was especially interesting to learn that BenRiach if one of the only distilleries that will still malt its own barley on occasion! The tasting was also wonderful - she led and guided us and made it fun without any sort of pretentiousness. I’d recommend this tour and tasting to everyone and can’t wait to come back and do it again. BenRiach is one of our favorite distilleries so it was a treat to share it with a couple of friends and have such a great leader and guide. Thank you, Jill!

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Benriach Distillery

Come to Speyside and explore the rugged beauty of our home. Discover how our ingenious team collide, combine and intertwine multi-layered flavour combinations you'll remember long after you leave us.

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The BenRiach Distillery

Top ways to experience The BenRiach Distillery and nearby attractions

Most Recent: Reviews ordered by most recent publish date in descending order.

Detailed Reviews: Reviews ordered by recency and descriptiveness of user-identified themes such as waiting time, length of visit, general tips, and location information.

Also popular with travellers

The BenRiach Distillery Guide - All You Need to Know BEFORE You Go (2024)

• (3.80 km) Laichmoray Hotel
• (3.73 km) Travelodge Elgin
• (12.20 km) Links Lodge B&B
• (4.41 km) West End Guest House
• (8.40 km) Ardgye House Bed and Breakfast
• (4.32 km) Ada Turkish Restauarant
• (11.75 km) Catch 79 Seafood Bistro
• (4.08 km) Sunninghill Hotel
• (4.36 km) The Drouthy Cobbler
• (4.27 km) Spice Tandoori

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Review: Benriach Original 10, Original 12, Smoky 10, and Smoky 12

Four years after its acquisition by Brown-Forman, Speyside’s BenRiach has relaunched its entire core lineup — and dropped the capital R. It’s formally “Benriach Distillery” now. That’s hardly the most interesting thing about the relaunch, though. The new core of four single malts includes two 10 year olds and two 12 year olds — two of which are peated, a significant rarity for Speyside. All three of the expressions are triple-cask matured — and all use a different combination of casks.

Some backstory:

The distillery looked at its history for inspiration in developing the new core range, which was artistically crafted by Master Blender Rachel Barrie and her team. The result spans the full spectrum of whisky flavor while keeping with its long-standing tradition of distilling classic, peated and triple distilled whisky and drawing from its vast eclectic cask inventory sourced from around the world. Inspired by the 1994 bottling of the Original Ten with its fruit-laden complexity and smooth, rounded taste, the new range re-imagines the 1898 origins of Benriach, brought to life in the 21st century through fusing distilling styles with extraordinary casks. It also features a new recipe for Benriach’s richly sherried 12 year-old whisky, including port and bourbon casks married for seamless smooth complexity. The extraordinarily sweet smoky whisky distilled in the distillery’s smoke season features in the new Smoky Ten and Smoky Twelve expressions. Both have their own flavor palate, created by selecting and maturing in bespoke oak casks, interwoven with Benriach’s hallmark sweet smoke. The updated packaging is reminiscent of the very first Benriach single malt released over two decades ago, with the portfolio color palette taking inspiration from Speyside’s natural environment in which the distillery sits.

We received small samples of all four whiskies for review, so let’s dive in.

Benriach The Original Ten – A blend of bourbon, sherry, and virgin oak casks. Bold nougat and wood shaving notes on the nose, with notes of green barley and overripe apple fruit. The palate is quite malty and chewy, big with cereal notes and that classic burlap sack character. Some applesauce finally fruits up the finish, which is otherwise gritty and a bit smoldering. 86 proof.  B / $54 [ BUY IT NOW FROM THE WHISKY EXCHANGE ]

Benriach The Smoky Ten – Peated whisky, matured in bourbon, Jamaican rum, and toasted virgin oak casks. The peat here is surprisingly aggressive, reminiscent of oaky wood fires, and filtered through notes of black pepper and well-browned butter. The smoke is quickly tempered on the palate, letting a creamy and gently fruity whisky come to the fore. Notes of apples and bananas, layered with baking spice, linger on the gently peaty finish. 92 proof. B+ / $60 [ BUY IT NOW FROM THE WHISKY EXCHANGE ]

Benriach The Original Twelve – A blend of bourbon, sherry, and Port wine casks. 10 years old. Similar to the Original Ten, but richer and more woody on the nose, with notes of sesame oil. The palate is also more bold and buttery, with coconut and milk chocolate notes emerging. There’s a hint of Port-driven raisin amidst a spicy character that builds, leading to a grain-heavy but immersive and rounded finish. 92 proof. A- / $60 [ BUY IT NOW FROM THE WHISKY BARREL ]

Benriach The Smoky Twelve – Peated whisky, matured in bourbon, sherry, and Marsala wine casks. Restrained but mildly smoky on the nose, with hints of mint and some camphor. The smoke hits on the palate, with a buttercream base propping up notes of sweet apple pie, milk chocolate, and vanilla. There’s a hint of red fruit on the finish. My favorite of the lineup. 92 proof. A- / $65 [ BUY IT NOW FROM THE WHISKY EXCHANGE ]

benriachdistillery.com

Benriach The Smoky Twelve

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Benriach To Open First Visitor Centre

Speyside distillery, Benriach, is getting ready to welcome to its first ever official visitor centre next month. Part of a six-figure investment project, the new centre will include a bar, tasting lounge and retail space.

The distillery will open to visitors on Friday 21 May and will offer an array of tastings following the easing of Scotland’s covid-19 restrictions.

The project follows the recent unveiling of Benriach’s new portfolio, and marks the first phase of the distillery visitor centre renovations, as part of a major investment initiative by Brown-Forman, who acquired the distillery in 2016.

The visitor centre will offer two tasting experiences that will appeal to both whisky lovers and those at the beginning of their whisky journey. The ‘Sense of Flavour’ tasting will delve into the production process at Benriach, before zoning in on the distillery’s classic and smoky expressions at 10 and 12 years old. Visitors will also have the chance to explore their own flavour preferences by trying Benriach in simple cocktail serves.

A deconstructed cask tasting will also be on offer for those who wish to dive deeper into the creation of the single malt. The ‘Barrels, Butts, and Barriques’ experience will offer visitors the chance to taste five individual cask types, culminating in a tasting of the Benriach 21 Year Old – showcasing the work of Benriach’s Master Blender, Dr. Rachel Barrie.

Visitors are advised to pre-book their preferred tasting  online  before arriving at the distillery. Tours of the production site will resume when it is safe to do so. 

Jennifer Proctor, Visitor Centre Manager at Benriach Distillery, said: “The last year has been significant in Benriach’s journey with the launch of the distillery’s new flavour forward portfolio, so the unveiling of our first ever visitor centre is a special moment.

From cask tastings to cocktails, we’ll initially be offering two flight-style tasting experiences that allow customers to explore Benriach’s flavour spectrum.  When restrictions allow, we will reveal our full distillery tour offering and announce the next phase of the distillery visitor centre development. Whether a local to Speyside or visitor from further afield, we look forward to welcoming guests from near and afar to discover Benriach’s world of flavour.”

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The BenRiach Distillery

Top ways to experience The BenRiach Distillery and nearby attractions

Most Recent: Reviews ordered by most recent publish date in descending order.

Detailed Reviews: Reviews ordered by recency and descriptiveness of user-identified themes such as waiting time, length of visit, general tips, and location information.

Also popular with travellers

The BenRiach Distillery - All You Need to Know BEFORE You Go (2024) - Tripadvisor

• (3.80 km) Laichmoray Hotel
• (3.73 km) Travelodge Elgin
• (12.20 km) Links Lodge B&B
• (4.41 km) West End Guest House
• (8.40 km) Ardgye House Bed and Breakfast
• (4.32 km) Ada Turkish Restauarant
• (11.75 km) Catch 79 Seafood Bistro
• (4.08 km) Sunninghill Hotel
• (4.36 km) The Drouthy Cobbler
• (4.27 km) Spice Tandoori

Scotland’s Benriach Distillery Celebrates Opening Of Its First Official Visitor Center

• by Gary Carter
• May 11, 2021

Benriach Distillery, located in Scotland’s Speyside region, will soon open the doors to its first-ever official visitor center following the completion of a major investment project. The distillery’s new center will feature a bar, tasting lounge and retail space, and open to visitors on May 21st.

Initially offering a variety of flavor-focused tastings following the easing of Scotland’s COVID-19 restrictions, visitors will be able to explore Benriach’s multi-layered single malt heritage dating back to 1898. The project follows the recent unveiling of Benriach’s new single malt portfolio and marks the first phase of distillery renovations as part of an investment initiative by Brown-Forman, who acquired the distillery in 2016 .

The new visitor center will offer a “Sense of Flavor” tasting, which will delve into the production process at Benriach, then feature the distillery’s classic and smoky expressions at 10 and 12 years old. A “deconstructed cask tasting” will also be offered for those who wish to dive deeper into the distillery’s history of eclectic cask maturation. The “Barrels, Butts and Barriques” experience will offer visitors the chance to taste five individual cask types, culminating in a tasting of the Benriach 21-year-old.

Visitors are required to pre-book their preferred tasting online before attending the distillery, which will open initially on a weekly basis from Friday through Sunday, 10:30 a.m. to 5 p.m. Distillery tours of the production site will return when it is safe to do so.

Its design rooted in tradition with a nod to the future, the new visitor center was built using natural materials from local suppliers when possible and drew from the natural color palette of Speyside to inspire its interior. External to the visitor building, one of the distillery’s most prominent warehouses has been whitewashed and branded to cement Benriach’s new identity … a practice traditionally adopted by ancient distilleries in Scotland.

“The last year has been significant in Benriach’s journey with the launch of the distillery’s new flavor forward portfolio, so the unveiling of our first-ever visitor center is a special moment,” said Jennifer Proctor, Visitor Center manager at Benriach in a prepared statement. “From cask tastings to cocktails, we’ll initially be offering two flight-style tasting experiences that allow customers to explore Benriach’s flavor spectrum. When restrictions allow, we will reveal our full distillery tour offering and announce the next phase of the distillery visitor center development. Whether a local to Speyside or a visitor from afar, we look forward to welcoming guests to discover Benriach’s world of flavor.”

Benriach dates back to 1898, when founder John Duff built his distillery. It stands on the site of the old Riach farm in north Speyside, drawing water from a mineral-rich aquifer, deep beneath the distillery. It continues today with a tradition of distilling three styles of whisky; classic unpeated, Highland peated, and triple distilled, together with what’s described by the brand as an eclectic selection of casks from around the world.

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Benriach The Original Ten

• November 22, 2020
• Reviews / Scotch

A little background

The Benriach Distillery was founded in 1898 by John Duff. Having previously been used in blends, Benriach was released for the first time as a 10 year old Single Malt in 1994. Today the distillery has continued to explore the possibilities of Speyside single malt by creating three styles of whisky; classic, peated and triple distilled. This review is of “The Original Ten”, a core range offering from Benriach that’s a signature expression that defines Benriach Single Malts. Benriach The Original Ten is three cask matured (Bourbon, Sherry, and Virgin Oak), bottled at 43% ABV, and has a retail price of $54 USD.

(Tasted neat from a Glencairn Glass)

Light Straw

Honey, peaches, sweet vanilla custard.

Beautiful oily mouthfeel with sweet notes of golden raisins, pears, lemon, and nutmeg.

Enjoyably long and malty leaving the mouth coated with hints of vanilla, nuts, and baking spice.

Benriach The Original Ten is quite enjoyable from the nose all the way through the finish. Although not the most complex Single Malt on the market, this whisky has a beautiful profile of sweet fruit notes and is quite approachable. For someone just dipping their toes in the malty world of Single Malts, this Speyside offering would be a fantastic purchase. At $55 this is what I’d consider a fantastic value and a bottle I’d absolutely love to have on my shelf.

NOTE: The sample used for this review was provided at no cost courtesy of The Benriach Distillery. We thank them for the sample and for allowing us to review it with no strings attached.

• Great Entry Level Speyside
• Not Overly Complex
• Possibly Excessively Sweet For Some

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A Unique Heritage

The Benriach Distillery was founded in 1898 and although the rough-hewn walls of our warehouses may seem unassuming, they are home to a rare breed of creative expertise in whisky distilling and eclectic cask maturation. Our ingenious and dedicated team spend their days crafting our award winning Speyside single malts and tirelessly pushing the limits of flavour possibility. We are proud to say we haven’t reached them yet.

Read on to discover more about the moments that made us who we are today.

Benriach Distillery is founded by John Duff .

The 1890s represent a busy time for the whisky industry with 33 new distilleries opening across Scotland. John Duff, a serial entrepreneur within the whisky industry, established Benriach in 1898. Having pursued whisky adventures at home and abroad, John decided that the best place to build his new distillery would be on a small hill, or ‘Ben’ at the site of the old ‘Riach’ farm, in the north of Speyside. Benriach was born.

Benriach Distillery closes due to Pattison Crash

The distillery was a victim of unfortunate timing; BenRiach was operational for just two years before the ‘Pattison Crash’ in 1900 resulted in a period of hardship for the entire whisky industry, and the resultant closure of many distilleries.

Floor Maltings secures a future for Benriach

While the distillery would not produce whisky again until 1965, the floor maltings remained in constant production, providing malted barley for Benriach’s neighbour, Longmorn Distillery. A small train was used to connect the two distilleries, ensuring Benriach’s buildings remained intact and ready to be opened again.

Benriach restarts production of its own malt whisky

In 1960, the whisky industry began to enter another boom period as a result of growing global demand for Scotch whisky, mainly in the USA. During this time, many new distilleries were built and mothballed distilleries fully re-opened. Benriach’s owners at the time, Glenlivet Distillers Ltd, worked hard to reopen Benriach with the same period features and character of the distillery that was first opened in 1898. Having undergone a successful renovation, the stills of Benriach began to run again in 1965.

Benriach starts to explore peated distillation

In the early 1970s, Benriach returned to distilling some whisky in the old, 19th century style using malted barley smoked with Highland peat. It was a bold, unconventional move in a Speyside whisky-making region known for crafting unpeated whiskies. We harness this creative spirit to the present day as we craft baches of peated whisky during our Smoke Season and are fortunate enough to be maturing some of the oldest ever peated Speyside whiskies.

Production ramps up at Benriach

Like many distilleries, Benriach has changed owners over the course of its history and in 1985 the distillery was bought by spirits company, Seagrams. Immediately after this, production was increased from two stills to four, and it is these four stills that keep Benriach running today.

Benriach launches its first ever single malt

Having previously been used in blends, Benriach was released for the first time as a 10 year old Single Malt in 1994. Despite being limited to small bottling runs, the expression would begin Benriach’s legacy of a flagship 10 year old whisky. Even today, when creating our latest 10 year old single malt, Master Blender Dr. Rachel Barrie took inspiration from the rich, robust character of the original 1994 bottlings we are lucky to have in our archives.

Benriach explores a third style of distillation

In the 1990s, Benriach began making small batches of triple distilled spirit; a tradition we now continue once a year. The third distillation further enhances Benriach’s fruit-laden character, creating an ultra-smooth spirit for this small batch style. Since this moment, the distillery has continued to explore the possibilities of Speyside single malt by creating three styles of whisky; classic, peated and triple distilled.

Benriach embarks on new journey under Billy Walker

Having been moved around in ownership deals in the early 2000s and mothballed in 2002, Benriach was acquired by an independent consortium led by Billy Walker in 2004. Production was fortunate to have been virtually uninterrupted and the new owners were able to release a portfolio of both unpeated and peated whiskies in August of the same year.

September 2004

Benriach enhances creative heritage of maturation with new ownership

On 20th September 2004, the newly formed Benriach Distillery Company successfully filled their first cask, adding to the portfolio of eclectic casks left by previous owners at the distillery. This eclectic range of cask types and uninterrupted portfolio dating back to the 1960s set the stage for a decade of rapid growth for Benriach.

Benriach is awarded Global Whisky Distiller of the year

Having established a new portfolio of classic, peated and triple distilled whiskies matured in an eclectic range of cask types, Benriach was awarded Global Whisky Distiller of the year by the Icons of Whisky Awards, a huge honour given the smaller scale of the distillery production on the global stage.

Benriach is purchased by Brown Forman

Having enjoyed over a decade of growth under the independent Benriach Distillery Company, Benriach was purchased by Brown Forman, an American based spirits company which has been responsibly building fine quality beverage alcohol brands for over 150 years.

Benriach appoint Master Blender Dr. Rachel Barrie

With over 26 years of experience, Rachel joined Brown Forman in March 2017 as Master Blender for The GlenDronach, Benriach and Glenglassaugh distilleries. Since joining the distillery team, Rachel has been awarded an honorary degree from The University of Edinburgh, inducted as a Keeper of the Quaich, and welcomed into The Whisky Magazine’s Hall of Fame. During her career, Rachel has sampled over 150,000 malt whisky casks and can intuitively bring together an expression. It is her artistry and expertise we rely on to bring together Benriach’s richly multi-layered single malts.

Benriach’s creative past inspires future with distinctive new portfolio

Remaining true to the creative heritage of the distillery, Benriach launched a new portfolio and packaging design in September 2020. The new core range created by Master Blender Dr. Rachel Barrie expresses the best of the North Speyside distillery providing a rich flavour-filled taste discovery for Single Malt explorers wherever they are on their whisky journey. Each expression has its unique flavour story imparted through rich and diverse cask maturation, a fusion of distillation styles and a wide range of ages up to 30 years. The design takes inspiration from the original packaging used for the first ever single malt released by Benriach in 1994.

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