Benromach

Just outside the town of Forres on the A96 - 27 miles east of Inverness, 12 miles west of Elgin - sits the Benromach Distillery. Benromach translates as ‘shaggy mountain’, evoking the surroundings, and indeed the water source for the distillery comes from the Chapeltown springs in the Romach Hills.

It was founded in 1898 by Duncan McCallum and F.W. Brickman as the Forres Distillery - production didn't start until 1900 when it then closed shortly after. McCallum reopened the site in 1907, but it closed again in 1910, staying dormant until 1919 when it was renamed Benromach.

It's safe to say the distillery had a chequered history, eventually becoming folded into the DCL conglomerate in 1953. Following the Scotch whisky downturn of the late 1970s it was mothballed in 1983, before being purchased by Elgin-based Gordon & MacPhail in 1993.

Prior to this point, from 1895 G&M had purchased new make spirit from distilleries around Scotland to mature in their own casks, but as a way of future-proofing themselves and also to add another string to the company bow, purchasing Benromach gave them the opportunity to grow a brand.

The distillery was a total shell - only the boby mill remained - so during a 5 year period in which the inside of the distillery was rebuilt, G&M sampled their own bottlings of Benromach and other Speyside distilleries from the 1920s onwards. They discovered that up to the late 1960s Speyside whiskies featured a delicate and subtle smokiness – a result of distilleries drying the barley themselves using local Highland peat. This smokiness was lost as malting was completed instead by separate companies, and the growth in popularity of Single Malt whiskies was driven by a demand for malty, Sherried drams without smoke. G&M decided to re-introduce this ‘lost’ style of Speyside whisky by using a small amount of peated barley in the production, resulting in a ‘wisp’ of smoke supporting classic Speyside flavour of toffee, dark fruits and malt.

The standard 10yo, 15yo and 21yo releases use an amount of peated barley to bring it to around 8-12ppm, but every year Keith Cruickshank - the master distiller - runs a batch using just peated barley. Every year the PPM level changes slightly - due to what the malting houses can provide - but the end result gives much more intensity of an earthy smokiness running through. This is not Islay peat, full of iodine and medicinal notes, this is Highland peat with hints of bonfires and soil.

Benromach offer both a Bourbon cask matured and Sherry cask matured edition of Peat Smoke, and it's fascinating to try the two side-by-side. The PPM is the same for the 2023 editions - 55ppm - but the difference between the two is marked. Bourbon maturation offers sweet, creamy notes, whereas the Sherry cask edition provides elements of ginger cake and warm spices. Both are delicious, and I highly recommend buying one of each!