Benromach distillery in Speyside has undergone a remarkable rebirth since it was bought and regenerated in the late nineties by the legendary independent bottlers Gordon & MacPhail. Since then, Benromach has made a big name for itself with a series of interesting and increasingly impressive single malt whisky releases, proving the potential of this previously ignored, practically forgotten distillery.
Benromach Distillery
Founded: 1898
Stills: 1 Wash Still, 1 Spirit Still
Water Source: Chapelton Springs
Capacity: 700,000 Litres
Owners: Gordon & MacPhail
1953-1983: Development and Closure.
Benromach was purchased by Distillers Company Ltd (later Diageo) in 1953 and the distillery went through a series of refits and improvements throughout the 1960s and early 1970s. In 1966 and 1974 the two stills had their worm tubs converted to modern condensers. The stills were also converted to internal steam heating in 1966.
Expressions of Benromach from this time reveal it to be a rich, oily, and fuller style Speysider with more than a little smoke. However, later editions after the switch from worm tubs and direct firing are inevitably more delicate, displaying more citrus and herbaceous characters.
There are not many examples of Benromach distilled before 1970, and very few casks were bottled before the mid-1990s. Gordon & MacPhail have released some excellent aged casks from the late sixties that are beautiful whiskies but the distillery character is understandably somewhat muted by the wood influence.
Cadenhead's and G&M both did bottlings of Benromach in the seventies that are excellent, more natural examples of the old-style make which are well worth the effort if you can find them nowadays. G&M also released a 1949 55-year-old in 2005 but this is understandably rare and very expensive now.
Diageo released a handful of official bottlings of Benromach during their ownership of the distillery, these were variable but usually good, muscular sherried drams. Sadly Benromach, along with many other great distilleries, was closed during the whisky crisis in 1983.
1992-Present: Rebirth.
In 1992 Benromach was purchased by Gordon & MacPhail, who had been keen to own a distillery for a long time, but were unable to start straight away as Benromach was in a sorry state and much work was needed to bring the distillery up to scratch. The only equipment that remained at the time of the purchase were the washbacks and an old Boby Mill from 1913.
G&M had the distillery completely refitted, including a new mash tun, new larch washbacks, and a new pair of stills. The new stills were closely modelled on the old ones but were slightly smaller than their predecessors. After years of effort and expense, spirit finally flowed again at Benromach in 1998 and the production process was slowly increased and refined in the following years.
The peating levels for Benromach’s standard spirit have usually been a little higher than normal for Speyside at around 10-12ppm. This phenolicity, along with some relatively long fermentations (three days) gives Benromach's single malt a rich, oily, and fruity distinction with a lick of spice and smoke in the background.
Now that the first distillations have reached full maturity, these characteristics are starting to show beautifully. The first new official Benromach 10-year-old launched in 2010 was a great example of this borderline old-style kind of make and was an immediate hit. There have also been heavily peated single malts produced at peat levels varying from 35-55ppm.
The modern peated Benromachs bottled so far reveal a very farmy kind of peat with rich medicinal undertones but little coastal influence, very fitting for the Speyside location. A mix of sherry and bourbon casks are filled along with some wine and fortified wine barriques as well.
Over the past three decades G&M have built a very varied range for Benromach. The early bottlings from the distillery used either aged Diageo stock, much of which had been in very tired wood, or very young whisky from the new distillery, including experiments with organic barley and heavily peated spirit. Both were frequently jazzed up with wine finishes.
Naturally this was a transition phase as Benromach waited for their own new make spirit to mature. The distillery’s releases really took off after their own whisky reached 10 years old and nowadays, while the release of the Benromach 40-year-old in 2023 and a 50-year-old in 2024 show that the Diageo stock has been well shepherded, there are likely very few pre-G&M casks remaining.
Nevertheless, Benromach today keeps up a busy release schedule with an established core range that still includes the distillery’s peated and organic experiments alongside plentiful single cask releases. Interestingly, now that Benromach have their own aged whisky the use of wine finishes has seemingly disappeared, with the core range and the vast majority of official releases aged in first fill traditional sherry or bourbon casks. No doubt we will continue to see finer and finer whiskies from this little gem of a distillery.