In 1970 Benrinnes switched from mechanical stoking to internal
heating. In 1974 the production regime was changed again when
the distillery switched to a system of 'partial triple distillation' .
So-called 'feints and low wines' produced in the second distillation
(in the first spirit still) are distilled again in the second spirit still.

Benrinnes was completely rebuilt in 1955/1956 and the traditional floor maltings were replaced by a
so-called 'Saladin Box' in 1964. This is a giant flat box that mechanically turns the germinating barley inside and allows air to pass through it. The Saladin Box (named after its inventor Charles Saladin) was removed again in 1984 when Benrinnes stopped producing its own malted barley. The production capacity of Benrinnes was expanded significantly in 1966 by increasing the number of stills from three to six.

The semi-official 'Flora & Fauna' bottling of Benrinnes shown at the top of the page was first released in 1991.
If I'm not mistaken, the only other semi-official release of Benrinnes was a 21yo UDRM (United Distillers Rare Malts) bottling distilled in 1974. Fortunately, independent bottlers have made dozens of different expressions available to malt whisky lovers worldwide. Especially Gordon & MacPhail has been active in this respecy with circa a dozen different bottlings. Together with Cadenhead's, Signatory Vintage and a handful of other bottlers they had released a total of circa 50 different independent bottlings of Benrinnes by the year 2008 - if the data on the MM Monitor is correct.

The Benrinnes distillery (sometimes spelled as 'Ben Rinnes')
was constructed near the site of an earlier distillery which
was built near Whitehouse Farm, Banffshire in 1826. It was
perhaps not the most fortunate choice of locations: the first
Benrinnes distillery was destroyed by a flood in 1829.

Ordinary people might have given up, but not the Scots...
Another distillery was constructed nearby in / around 1835.
The ownership of this new distillery changed several times
before John Dewar & Sons acquired Benrinnes in 1922. In
1925 the John Dewar & Sons company merged with DCL
(Distillery Company Limited, now part of UDV / Diageo).

And that's not the only unique feature of the distillery; Benrinnes
is one of the few distilleries in Scotland that still uses so-called
'worm tubs' to cool the vapours and condensed spirit from the
running stills. This feauture was once common, but not anymore.

But now I'm getting ahead of myself - the late 1990's were significant too...
In 1998 UD (United Distillers, part of Guiness Group) and IDV (International Distillers & Vintners,
part of Grand Metropolitan Group) merged into UDV (United Distillers & Vintners). I'm not entirely
sure how the large corporations are legally linked exactly, but UDV is synonymous with Diageo.
When I write this update of the profile (summer 2008), Diageo is by far Scotland's largest whisky
producers with almost thirty active malt whisky distilleries - which is about a third of the total
number of active distilleries in Scotland. But there are far more 'brands' than distilleries...
 
Take 'Stronachie' for example - a mysterious malt whisky that appeared on the market in 2003.
Although there used to be an actual 'Stronachie' distillery around a century ago, this new bottle
turned out to be a 'bastard malt' that has very little to do with that historical distillery. Although the
Stronachie is presented as a composition 'inspired' by the profile of an old bottle of Stronachie
from 1904 found somewhere, organoleptic tests and rumours indicate that these new bottles of
Stronachie contain nothing else than Benrinnes 12yo single malt whisky. It's a decent enough
malt (and quite friendly priced at that), but I personally prefer 'the real thing' at 15yo by F&F.
So, don't believe all the hyped up copywriting by Dewar Rattray you can read on the label...

1) In 1896 Benrinnes distillery was seriously damaged by a large fire.
The owners used this as an opportunity to refurbish the entire distillery and add a novelty: electricity. 

2) The 'look' of the Benrinnes distillery is fairly modern. That's not because it was built recently (the first distillery buildings at the site were built in 1835), but the entire distillery was reconstructed in the late 1950's. The number of stills was extended to six at that time - arranged in three pairs to enable some form of triple distillation.

3) Do you know of any more trivial trivia about Benrinnes?
Why don't you drop me a note so I can share it with the rest of the whisky world through this page?
 

Benrinnes 1968 (40%, G&M Connoisseur's Choice, Old Brown Label, no bottling year specified)
Nose: Sweet & floral. Some nutty elements. Organics. Orange. Fat York Ham. Peaty over time.
Taste: Not very well defined. Tea? Short finish. Just a tad too bitter for my tastes.
Score: 79 points - very close to 'recommendable', but not quite...
I guess that makes it an 'average' Benrinnes.

Benrinnes 12yo 1989/2002 (43%, Coopers Choice)
Nose: Sherry. Some smoke. A little alcoholic. Pleasant composition. Quite light.
Starts strong and becomes even more powerful after a minute. More smoke.
Taste: Sherry and smoke. Woody. Deep flavours, but a bit 'muddy'. Liquorice feeling.
Score: 79 points - another Benrinnes that approaches recommendability. Above average whisky.
Nothing wrong here, but just not remarkable enough for a score in the 80's.

Benrinnes 1985/1999 (43%, Mac Kullick's Choice, Distilled in May 1985, Cask #1213)
Nose: Grainy and 'veggy' over a soft sweet underground. Not much depth at first.
Soft pepper? Maggi? Sweetish with a hint of dust now and then. Fresher with time.
Remains restrained. Much lighter and grainier than any other Benrinnes I tried so far.
Taste: Hot. Gritty with a hint of coffee in the centre. Too thin. Astringent, dry finish.
Score: 73 points - I'd have to classify this as 'below average', but not very much. 
Based on previous encounters with Benrinnes I was ready to like this a lot, actually.
Nevertheless, I'll have to conclude that as a single malt it's slightly disappointing.
Other bottlings I tried (especially the 15yo Flora & Fauna) had a much character.
Other bottlings have a more pronounced sherry character that set them apart from the crowd.
This 'Mac Kullick' is fairly MOTR and hardly the best example of Benrinnes available.

Benrinnes 15yo (43%, Flora & Fauna, 70cl, bottled +/- 1998) - my first ever bottle of Benrinnes.
Nose: Sweet and sherried. Fruity with a hint of smoke. Very appealing from the start.
Maggi? Stock cubes. Plenty of the lovely 'organics' that I love in some sherried malts.
Furniture wax. Old fruits. Grows very rich and complex. Exquisite! Powerful too. Amazing!
Wood (wet, dead oak burning in the autumn). With a drop of water the nose improves even further.
Taste: Sherried with notable leathery notes. Bittersweet. Sherry dryness with smooth episodes.
Very nice. Oaky and smoky. Orange. Long, dry finish with sherry moving back and forth.
Score: 83 points - for a long time my first ever Benrinnes remained my favourite.

Benrinnes 1978/1995 'Centenary Reserve' (40%, Gordon & MacPhail, 70cl).
Nose: Fruity with a whiff of peat. Quite fresh with a soft, beguiling sweetness.
It grows notably oilier after a while. Interesting development but little 'volume'.
Taste: Soft start. A wonderful toffee sweetness emerges quickly - and disappears again.
No sweetness left after 5 minutes. Fresh burn. Bitter in the finish with flashes of liquorice.
Score: 77 points - not quite what I expected w.r.t. style and performance.
Still, I don't think oxidation (this bottle has a screwcap) is to blame here.

Benrinnes 1972/1995 (40%, G&M Connoisseurs Choice, Old Map Label)
Nose: Oh boy!!! Extremely rich and sherried - not your average 'MOTR' CC.
Quickly grassy elements and organics join the party. Spices. Salmiak. Brilliant.
Something veggy. Whiff of smoke. It also sweetens out after a little while.
Taste: It starts very odd as well - but not is such a good way as the nose.
Fortunately, it sweetens out and becomes very big and chewy on the palate.
Nice - but then it dries out again in the finish, leaving a coffee-like bitterness.
Score: 86 points - a great malt, but I don't like the palate enough to go higher.
 

These were not all the (official and independent) expressions of Benrinnes whisky I've tried over the years.
My Track Record used to contain a complete overview of all the single malts I've tried, but when I passed the 2000 malts mark (and the complete whisky list wouldn't fit on two separate HTML pages anymore) I gave up. My Liquid Log still contains my tasting notes on most single malts I've sampled and scored, though. You can find a specific expression through the search box at the top of each distillery profile. The mAlmanac now contains (purely personal) selections of some of the best single malts and the worst whiskies I've tried so far - as well as the ones with the highest 'Bang-For-Your-Buck' value. But those tasting notes and scores only reflect my own, purely personal opinions. On Serge's distillery profile on Whiskyfun you can find another perspective on the whisky made at this distillery. Check out the Malt Maniacs Monitor on Malt Maniacs for my scores on all expressions I've tried so far - and those of almost all the other certified malt maniacs as well. The Malt Maniacs Matrix contains a few thousand single malts that were sampled and scored by at least four different malt maniacs, so you can compare our individual opinions.
 
 

In 2005 only thirteen other distilleries still used this cooling system; Balmenach,
Cragganmore, Dalwhinnie, Edradour, Glen Elgin, Glenkinchie, Mortlach, Oban,
Old Pulteney, Royal Lochnagar, Speyburn, Springbank (on their wash still only)
and Talisker. The subsequent 'boom' in the whisky industry (due to increased
demand from Asia and Russia in particular) may have had its effects since then.