Driving down the road by the ancient market town of Forres, you’d first notice the scent of peat smoke in the crisp Highland air before easily spoting the distillery’s pristine white buildings and distinctive red brick chimney that rises against the Speyside landscape.

The 1960s and 70s are often described as the golden era of Scotch production, so it’s not surprising that many Scotch distilleries continue to nostalgically cling to the echoes of their heyday in some sort of embrace of a bygone era. Benromach Distillery is quite the opposite. It seems to have its eyes fixed firmly on the present and future. It’s undergone a very successful revival under the ownership of Gordon & MacPhail, but there’s a sense that the best chapters of its story are still being written.

The distillery first opened its doors in 1898, a time when the Scotch whisky industry appeared to be booming. Duncan MacCallum and F.W. Brickmann, the founders of Benromach, were ambitious, but unfortunately, their timing wasn't the best. Almost immediately, they were hit by a financial crisis in the industry in the same year, known as the Pattison Crash, which caused widespread distillery closures and bankruptcies, and were forced to close down.

This set the scene for what would be a turbulent few decades for Benromach. It changed hands multiple times, operating in fits and starts – a few years on, a few years off – before finally landing in the hands of Distillers Company Limited (DCL) in the 1950s. DCL was a massive player in the Scotch whisky world which eventually became part of what we know today as Diageo. They kept Benromach going until the 1980s, but ultimately, the distillery fell victim to another industry downturn. In 1983, with a whisky loch (industry-wide overproduction) looming large, DCL mothballed the distillery. And when we say mothballed, I mean DCL stripped the place bare, removing valuable equipment parts to service their other nearby distilleries. It was like they were harvesting organs from a dying patient to save several others who had more hope.

Gordon & MacPhail, the famed independent bottlers, saw potential in Benromach and bought the site in 1993. Gordon & MacPhail’s Director of Prestige, Stephen Rankin, with whom I got to speak to recently described the purchase of Benromach as fulfilling a dream: “We’ve always dreamed of owning a distillery. We knew that Benromach’s spirit was excellent. We also knew that it was really valued by blenders.”

But the distillery was a shell of a building at that point and the firm had to spend several years and a significant fortune essentially building a new distillery within the old walls. Stephen, whose family owns Gordon & MacPhail, recounted to me how he spent a summer with his grandfather, quite literally cleaning up the derelict distillery.

When the distillery was reopened by Prince Charles in 1998, Gordon & MacPhail hailed it as the rediscovery of a lost style of Speyside single malt.

“We literally bought a building that had everything inside removed of any value. It had been dormant for ten years, so there had been no life in it. There was a lot of cleaning and tidying up to be done, but also a lot of what was left wouldn’t have been fit for future use,” Stephen recalled.

This gave Gordon & MacPhail the chance to adjust the design of the distillery to its requirements. The distillery was cleverly redesigned so that the entire whisky-making process could be run by just one person. They also opted for slightly smaller pot stills than the originals, to give it a weightier spirit. Today, Benromach remains one of the smallest distilleries in Speyside, with an annual production capacity of just about 250,000 litres of alcohol.

Gordon & MacPhail was determined to revive Benromach with a nod to its past, specifically the pre-1960s Speyside style. A richer, more robust spirit and the use of some lightly peated malt, which adds a subtle smokiness to the spirit. Here’s the remarkable thing: despite redesign by Gordon & MacPhail, the new make spirit at Benromach retained that a rich fruitiness that was characteristic of the DCL days. It's almost as if the distillery itself has a memory . Some experts point towards the microclimate of the distillery environment, which affected the fermentation process similarly. Another reason is the use of the same soft water sourced from the nearby Chapelton Springs.

I’m incredibly privileged to be amongst a lucky few who got to witness Benromach’s launch of its new 50 Years Old Single Malt at La Maison du Whisky Singapore. Bottled at 54.6% ABV and matured primarily in ex-Sherry American oak, this release is something of a time capsule as it was distilled back in the 1970s when DCL still ran the show.

Stephen observed that even back in the 70s’ the spirit has a mild tropical sweetness to it, and he attributes it to longer fermentation times and the distinct mineral profile of the same water source – the Chapelton Springs. There is also the use of worm tubs – an older piece of technology used to cool the spirit and condense it. Unlike modern, highly efficient condensers, worm tubs tend to result in a spirit with a heavier and oilier mouthfeel. And of course, the malt use has a whisper of light peatiness which may have been mellowed further over the years.

Full bottles of this whisky is presented in textured glass decanters handcrafted by Glasstorm, a renowned glass studio in the Highlands. Only 248 decanters are available worldwide with a number allocated to La Maison du Whisky Singapore.

Let’s give this a taste.

Benromach 50 Years Old Single Malt, 54.6% ABV – Review

Tasting Notes

Nose: Really poised and really polished. It’s a rich, vibrant array of fruits enveloped in aromatic oak and spices with a robust spirit. Luscious stewed red fruits dominate the foreground – dates, cranberries, and stewed cherries mingle with a slightly tart strawberry compote. The fruitiness has a light, fresh tartness to it, giving it vibrance. A subtle spice emerges with anise, black pepper and a faint feinty-estery profile, adding a bit more thrill and character rather than detracting from the experience (kinda like how a touch of wasabi adds a lot of life to your sushi). The fruitiness shades into brown sugar, tinned peaches, and a very mild herbaceousness. The oak influence is undeniable – it’s mature and refined, with notes of wood polish and antique wood. It also hints at the nuttiness of toasted walnuts without becoming dry.

Overall, the nose is polished and really flavourful, showcasing a depth of fruits and oak, with a rather generous amount of spice. The maturity is evident just from the first sniff.

Palate: Really gorgeous and vibrant evolution from fruit and spice to oak and a final touch of smoke, while the texture is luxuriously viscous. It opens with a punchy sweetness of stewed apricots, tinned peaches, sweet pink guava, and the mildly sour, caramelised sweetness of softly grilled pineapples, all drizzled with warm honey and laced with the growing warmth cinnamon, cloves, pepper, and anise. Rich oak notes emerge over time, some ashiness that remind me of burnt crème brûlée. The towards the finish, it introduces liquorice and mint, with the honeyed sweetness continuing to linger in the background. The deepening oakiness gradually reveals dry chocolate malt, cocoa powder and espresso.

Finish: Very warm and long. The spirit peaks in spices right by the finish. I’d say it’s a rather austere, almost grandfatherly finish with a masculinity characteristic of the Benromach DNA, leaving a refined touch of dry ash and Chinese incense in the mouth. There’s also a bit of wet stone minerality lingering alongside 80% dark chocolate and dried sour plum notes right at the end.

My Thoughts:

Wow! This Scotch brims with so much going on from the first whiff – to call it complex is an understatement. I’m really impressed by the nose which shows incredible poise and refinement, offering up that vibrant mixed berry character along with aromatic wood polish. The palate is punchy and unapologetic, with tropical fruits that elegantly transitions into wood spices and light smokiness, then into an austere, almost stern finish. Like many impeccably aged Scotch whiskies bottled by Gordon & MacPhail, this is a testament to the quality of the oak and maturation expertise.

Stephen had mentioned that this was primarily aged in American oak, but I seem to get lots of rich European oak complexities and spices, with the sherried oak richness harmonising beautifully with the lush fruit notes. It reminds me of some older Macallans with its signature richness and depth while retaining elegant restraint, never turning into overoaked territory.

Overall, it embodies the classic Benromach balance of sweet and spicy notes, accented by a touch of peat smoke, then elevated by the depth and maturity of aromatic oak of five decades. Just as Gordon & MacPhail sought to revive the old school style of Highland Scotch today, this 50 Year Old release seems to bridge the gap between the DCL era and the present, with much of that classic Benromach sweetness and masculinity woven into the spirit.

@CharsiuCharlie