Scotch Whisky Review #177: Mercury’s Selection Benrinnes 11 Year “The Goddess”

Distillery: Benrinnes

Region: Speyside

Price: Many thanks to /u/Pork_Bastard for letting me try this one!

Cask Type: 1st Fill Bourbon Hogshead

Cask No.: 304258

ABV: 57.9% Cask Strength

Age: 11 Year. Distilled in 2007, Bottled in 2009.

Color: 0.2, Pale Straw.

Nose: (according to the wife) It’s really, really light. The main notes are of flowers and floral tea with honey.

Palate: Much like the nose, it starts off very light and sweet. The main note is of a floral tea with wild honey mixed into it. There’s a bit of yuja/citron tea

with a lovely balance of sweet and a tad of bitterness from yuja rinds. After it’s sat on the tongue for a little bit, it goes a completely different direction with some earthy notes. There’s a deep note of roasted barley tea with another slightly sweet and slightly bitter note of pearl barley nurungji/scorched rice/보리 누릉지.

Finish: Medium to short. There’s a little bit of heat but it mostly finishes on the notes of barley tea and barley nurungji.

Conclusion: Just about every time I take a sip of a Benrinnes, I am left thinking that it’s an absolute shame that most of their whisky goes straight into blends. This one is no different. It’s surprisingly light and delicate but with some fascinating layers of complexity. It starts off floral and sweet before moving to a bit of fruity and then getting very earthy with lots of the barley coming through. All in all, a fantastic whisky though I’m fairly certain I would’ve guessed that this was a Clynelish if I had tried it blind. Would I buy a bottle? If I could find one (this might be the hardest whisky I’ve had to find anything about, there’s all of 3 pictures I’ve found on Google), absolutely!

Final Score: 85.

Scotch Whisky Review #177, Speyside Whisky Review #73, Whisky Network Review #243

Scoring Legend:

• 96-100: The perfect dram, nectar of the gods.
• 90-95: Near perfect, there is something truly special about this whisky.
• 85-89: Amazing, will always try to keep a bottle of this in my collection (if feasible).
• 80-84: Very Good, maybe only one minor nitpick about the whisky keeping it here.
• 75-79: Good, quite enjoyable to drink.
• 70-74: Solid, wouldn’t go out of my way to get it.
• 60-69: Meh, still drinkable.
• Below 59: If you have a bottle of this, start cooking with it instead.