The Benromach distillery in Forres was constructed in 1898 by the
Benromach Distillery Company Ltd.; a partnership between Duncan
McCallum (owner of the Glen Nevis distillery in Campbelltown) and
F. W. Brickman (a spirit merchant from Leith). Benromach distillery
was officially opened in the year 1900 but closed again soon after.

In 1938 the Benromach distillery was purchased by Associated Scotish Distillers Ltd., a subsidiary of
Train & McIntyre Ltd. (owned by National Distillers of America). In an ongoing process of concentration,
Train & McIntyre were themselves purchased in 1953 by DCL. Benromach ('shaggy mountain') was
rebuilt in the 1960's and 1970's, but that didn't keep the owners from closing the distillery in 1983,
together with Banff, Dallas Dhu, Glen Albyn, Glenlochy, Glen Mhor, North Port-Brechin and St. Magdalene.
Their other sister distilleries Coleburn, Glenury Royal, Hillside / Glenesk and Millburn were closed just
two years later in 1985. Ownership of Benromach transferred to United Distillers in 1986.

Gordon & MacPhail couldn't bring Benromach back to life quite as quickly as they
would have liked because they had some problems obtaining the trademark and
water rights. However, on October 15, 1998 Benromach was officially re-opened
by Prince Charlie of Wales. A visitor centre was added a year later in 1999 and the
first whisky that was distilled by Gordon & MacPhail themselves was released a little
later in May 2004 as 'Benromach Traditional' - shown at the right. As time went by,
the new owners gradually released more and different expressions, slowly building
a varied portfolio that inluded a 22yo Port Finish, an 'organic' and a peated whisky.

But Derek admitted that buying their own distillery had been a valuable learning experience for Gordon & MacPhail as well. Their blending and bottling company had actually been founded three years before the Benromach distillery, but until they bought the (fairly run down) distillery they had no experience with the actual production side of whisky. Now they coud 'learn on the job'...

Between 1907 and 1910 Benromach operated under another name
('Forres') under the sole responsibility of Duncan McCallum, before
falling silent again. Benromach was revived again shortly after
World War I by brewers, but the distillery fell silent again in 1931.
Benromach was the first distillery in Scotland to install direct oil
firing under their stills in when they re-opened it in 1937.

In 1992 Benromach was sold to independent bottler Gordon & MacPhail (established
in 1895). Through the sale Gordon & MacPhail obtained the empty buildings (distillery
and warehouses) and remaining stocks from UDV, but it took six years for Benromach
to resume production. All that was left in the empty buildings were the washbacks, so
new equipment had to be installed throughout the distillery. Benromach was complete
refurbished. This included the installation of two new stills, smaller than the old ones.

Five certified malt maniacs (Serge, Davin, Craig, Krishna and myself) visited Benromach in June 2003
and were shown around the distillery and the big Gordon & MacPhail warehouses by Derek Hancock.
The grand tour Derek gave us was one of the most interesting ones I've had so far and I realised
that I still had a lot to learn about the production, maturation and distribution of Scotch malt whisky.

Personally, I wasn't blown away by their first 'Traditional' in 2004, but the score of 75 points becomes much more impressive if you take into account that the whisky was only circa five years old - and the old 12yo bottling that was available in the 1990's (shown above) scored 75 points as well... The 22yo Port Finish was a favourite of mine.

1) After Gordon & MacPhail bought the distillery in 1992 (some say 1993) it was completely refurbished; the only piece of original equipment kept in production was the spirit receiver.

2) Apart from the spirit receiver, there's another 'antique' piece of equipment operational in the Benromach distillery. The cast iron 'Boby mill' that is used to mill the malted barley into grist was constructed in 1913.

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

Benromach NAS 'Traditional' (40%, OB, Bottled +/- 2004)
Nose: Light - smooth at first but growing a little grainier after a few seconds. Creamy. Oil?
Maybe a hint of Granny Smith? Quite restrained for a while, but then it opens up. Spicy.
It sweetens out and even gets a hint of faint organics - but it remains mostly superficial.
That being said, given enough time it shows flashes of nuts and fruits. More organics.
I even thought I detected some whiffs of menthol, but this one changes a lot over time.
Taste: Weak start, becoming sweeter and a little nutty on the palate. Gone too soon.
Smooth and slick on the palate as well. Over time I got apples, mint, smoke and liquorice.
It's quite dry, and when I added just a drop of water I even imagined some burnt peat.
Loses points here. It's quite slick (and improves with time), but for me it's a tad too 'MOTR'.
Score: 75 points - in the end it's just a little too dry, woody and simple on the palate.
If it wasn't for the fact that the nose kept surprising me it would have ended up in the 60's.

Benromach 12yo (40%, Gordon & MacPhail, Bottled +/- 1995, 70cl)
Nose: Big with a lot of development. Fresh and flowery at first, then sweeter and more malt.
Taste: Overwhelming soft sweetness with a long afterburn. Woody and slightly sherried finish.
I have to say that it's just a bit too woody and bitter for my tastes - but that's just me...
Score: 75 points - the very definition of an 'average' single malt.

Benromach 14yo 1968 (40%, G&M CC Old Brown Label)
Nose: Very fruity from a distance. Rich and sherried on closer inspection. Hint of mint.
Quite lovely! Much more character than the Connoisseurs Choice bottlings of the 90's.
After a few minutes organics join the party. Oriental spices. A whiff of smoke, perhaps?
Five minutes later I even thought I found some peat. No 'MOTR' malt, that much is certain.
Lots of development too. After a while I got pickled onions. Quite a nasal adventure.
Taste: Hmmm, A tad thinner on the palate at first. Grape skins and other fruity notes.
More serious in the centre; quite dry and woody. Smoky. No sweetness, but I like it.
Score: 87 points - the nose almost pushes it into the 90's, but the palate holds it back.
The nose is really quite spectacular - not unlike a heavily sherried Ardmore or Longmorn.

Benromach 15yo (40%, G&M, Bottled +/- 2000)
Nose: Sweet and mellow. Much 'grainier' than the 14yo I just tried. Light fruits.
It threatens to wander off in an oilier, veggier direction. Maybe a hint of smoke?
After some time some faint spices and organics. Not bad at all, this Benromach.
Taste: Oy.... Something artificial and perfumy. Dry. Winey. It loses many points here.
Score: 67 points - a pleasant nose, but I really don't like the gritty taste of this malt.
The uneven, dry and bitter taste (aspirin) prohibits me from really enjoying this one.

Benromach 18yo (40%, OB / Gordon & MacPhail, Bottled +/- 2003, 70cl)
Nose: Polished. Malt & citrus. Tangerine. Sherry. Spicy. Nothing wrong with this...
Taste: Malty and slightly bitter. A very fine malt but it could do with a little more personality
Score: 80 points - it seems Gordon & MacPhail is moving towards 'spunkier' malts. Great!

Benromach 19yo 1978/1998 (63.8%, UDRM, code, LLXL00000009, Bottle #2036, 70cl) 
Nose: Spirity. Rhum. Hard to pin down anything specific, maybe because of the high proof?
Hey, now I get something: it takes a distinctly fruitier direction after a few minutes.
Taste: Undiluted, it's rather sweet at first. The resemblance to rhum pops up here as well.
Some pine in the center. Then more citrus. Not e lot of complexity, even after adding water.
Score: 74 points - definitely disappointing, given the age, proof and price.

Benromach 22yo Port Finish (45%, OB, 22 months Port pipes finish, 3500 Bottles, Bottled 2005)
Nose: Fruity with a hint of smoke. Strawberry sauce. Organics in the background.
Taste: Chewy tannins right from the start. Smoke. Very dry, especially in the finish.
Some distant fruits. More smoke after a while, accompanied by some lovely liquorice.
Score: 85 points - Lovely and quite unique. Could be a bit more expressive in the nose, though.
Oh yes, this is nice! It ticks all the right boxes for me, although it lacks a little depth.

Benromach 1973/2001 (40%, OB, Gordon & MacPhail, 70cl)
Nose: Very subtle. Creamy but a little prickly as well. Light with accents of oil and pine.
Hint of peat? Almost a little bit 'Lowlandish' in character, I'd say. Very pleasant though...
Taste: Sweet and malty. but a tad thin. Big enough burn, though - it feels very powerful.
Dry. Bitter finish. I guess you could call this 'MOTR' as well, but in this case it's a solid malt.
Score: 82 points - a classic example of the subtlety that has made Speysiders so popular.
 

These were not all the (official and independent) expressions of Benromach 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.