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BenRiach The Smoky Twelve Review

Looking for a peated Scotch with a touch of sweetness? Benriach The Smoky Twelve brings together bourbon, sherry and marsala cask maturation to create a peated whisky where sweetness and smoke sit comfortably side by side.

OVERALL RATING

8
$52
  • Genevieve is a South African whisky enthusiast with a PhD in Philosophy and founder of Kenton on Whisky, a coastal tasting venture.
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Tasting Notes

About:

BenRiach is a fairly versatile distillery, known to produce three distinctive styles of whisky: unpeated, peated and triple distilled.

They also pride themselves on their use of a wide variety of cask types from around the world, which they play around with in order to try and create some interesting flavour profiles.

The Smoky Twelve is an example of one of their peated expressions. It was launched in 2020 as part of their new core range of single malts. The Smoky Twelve is aged in a combination of bourbon, sherry and marsala wine casks (the last of which is a type of fortified wine made in Sicily).

This 12-year-old single malt is also non-chill filtered, naturally coloured and bottled at 46% ABV.
Appearance:
Deep amber
Nose:
An initial smoky aroma, reminiscent of the smouldering embers from a wood fire. A suggestion of smoked ham. Plenty of sweet and spicy notes, some ripe red apples, pear. Vanilla, and a hint of chocolate mousse.
Palate:
A nice balance of smoky and sweet flavours. The wood smoke isn’t too overpowering. Spiced fruitcake. Creamy vanilla and toffee. There’s also a slightly earthy note lurking in the background that reminds me of a well-worn leather jacket. Quite smooth in texture.
Finish:
A prickly finish, and some lingering dark chocolate notes.
Comments:
I enjoyed tasting The Smoky Twelve. I have a fondness for peaty whiskies that have a sweetness to them too, and this whisky definitely fit that bill.

I found The Smoky Twelve to be decently peaty, but it’s certainly not the peatiest dram out there, so any truly hardened peat fans might be slightly disappointed with the level of smoke that this whisky delivers.

Editor’s Note: This whiskey was either bought as a sample by The Whiskey Wash or provided to us as a review sample by the party behind it. Per our editorial policies, this in no way influenced the outcome of this review.

Genevieve Jacot-Guillarmod

Genevieve is a whisky enthusiast from South Africa with a PhD in Philosophy, so she enjoys both drinking and thinking about whisky. She loves tasting new whiskies whenever she gets the chance - so much so that a few years ago she set up a small whisky tasting business, "Kenton on Whisky", in the tiny coastal town where she lives (this also serves as an excellent excuse to grow her selection of whiskies beyond reasonable limits).

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