Stronachie 12 Year Old

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.

A Dewar Rattray was originally founded as a spirits merchant and whisky blender by Andrew Dewar Rattray in 1868, and was acquired after his death by William Walker, whose daughter would go on to marry Stanley P. Morrison of Morrison Bowmore.  Their son Tim Morrison revived the A D Rattray company around the turn of the millennium, a few years after the Morrisons had sold Bowmore to Suntory.

A D Rattray are known for their Stronachie single malt, a sourced Benrinnes named after a famous defunct Highland distillery. Rattray has been independently bottling single malt Scotch whisky regularly since 2004, usually as individual casks bottled at full cask strength. The company also has a Cask Islay brand for anonymous Islay single malts bottled at 46%. In 2017 Tim Morrison founded the Clydeside distillery in Glasgow, which released its inaugural single malt in 2021.