LOT ID: 0224-914
End Date : Mar 20 2024 08:00 PM
Founded in 1826, Benrinnes is a traditional Speyside distillery that joined the portfolio of Diageo forerunner DCL in 1925. Benrinnes was completely rebuilt in the 1950s and expanded in 1966 with two wash stills and four spirit stills for partial triple distillation. Since 2007 this has reverted to double distillation with each wash still now supplying two spirit stills. Benrinnes still uses worm tub condensers, which help give the distillery’s spirit a heavy, meaty character ideal for blending or for extended maturation in sherry casks.
Benrinnes’ importance as a blending malt means official bottlings are rare. The popular sherried Flora & Fauna 15-year-old first appeared in 1991 and was followed by an excellent Rare Malts edition in 1996 and a handful of subsequent Special Releases and other one-off bottlings. Independent Benrinnes is thankfully abundant, with some classic old vintages by Cadenhead’s, Gordon & MacPhail and the SMWS among others.
Founded in Elgin as a merchant grocer and wine and spirits wholesaler in 1895, Gordon & MacPhail are one of the oldest independent whisky bottlers in Scotland. Co-founder James Gordon owned shares in Longmorn, Strathisla and Glen Grant, and Gordon & MacPhail were soon bottling officially licensed single malts from several distilleries and sending empty casks from their wine business to be filled with new make spirit and returned for maturation in their Elgin warehouses.
Gordon & MacPhail pioneered high strength single malts at 100 proof (57%) in the 1950s, and in 1968 the company launched Connoisseurs Choice, one of the first integrated ranges of small batch independent whisky bottlings. After finally becoming distillers themselves with the purchase of Benromach in 1993, in 2010 Gordon & MacPhail bottled the first 70-year-old single malt whisky (a Mortlach 1938) and in 2020 the company released the first ever 80-year-old whisky: Glenlivet 1940.