Category: Benrinnes
The Benrinnes distillery is located in Aberlour, Scotland, and has been producing whisky consistently since 1835. Peter McKenzie was the first to distill whisky at this location in 1826 by, but the site was destroyed by a flood in 1829. Upon its rebuilding in 1835, the Benrinnes distillery was first known as the Lyne of Ruthrie, but it was sold to William Smith when the distillery went bankrupt.
The distillation process used by Benrinnes is a little more unusual than most single malt scotch distilleries; from 1974 to 2007, it used a unique partial triple distillation process in which the feints from the wash still, the weaker parts of feints of the spirit still, and the feints from the low wine still itself are distilled in a low wines still. All of this occurred while the spirit still is fed by the foreshots and the heart of the wash and low wine still, and its own foreshots and strong feints. The stills necks were then cooled by wormtubs, an old practice that is not common anymore. The triple distillation process was ultimately abandoned in 2007, when it switched to a more contemporary arrangement of two wash stills and four spirit stills.
One of Benrinnes’ most popular malts is a 15-year old bottling in the Flora and Fauna range. It is described as a full bodied, sweet malt and with lots of character.