In today’s tasting, I am comparing two single malts from the Speyside region of Scotland. The first dram is from BenRiach, and it comes courtesy of my Scotch Whisky Advent Calendar from Cask Explorers, the Diamond Edition. I have already popped open the first two entries from the Emerald (it was the Glenfarclas 15) and Ruby (Ardmore 18) editions respectively, and I’ve been patiently awaiting to see what hides behind door number one in this top-end offering (it’s £750 for 25 drams and is already sold out in 2022!). I don’t have many 30-year-olds in my personal collection [well, I do, but I’m unwilling to pop them just yet], and so I pair this with a previously opened Berry Bros. & Rudd (BR) bottle, from an undisclosed distillery. We’ve got a lot to discover here, but first, we need music! Now playing: Pêtr Aleksänder – The Whole World Laid Out Before Me.

BenRiach distillery is owned by Brown-Forman Corporation and is located in Moray, Scotland. It’s got a rich history of ownership transfers, with the most recent one happening in 2004, under the current ownership, by the American company which also owns GlenDronach and Glenglassaugh. I’ve previously tasted their 12-year-old, and even though it won that round against its pairing, it didn’t compel me enough to go out and buy a bottle. The 30-year-old, or as it’s aptly named The Thirty, was matured in a marriage of four different cask types: sherry, bourbon, port, and virgin oak. This is a £645 bottle offered at 46% ABV. A very important note here: this is a very different 30-year-old than the one which initially came on the market in 2007 as a limited edition of 3,000 bottles. That one was a 50/50 split of ex-bourbon barrels and oloroso sherry butts. So the tasting notes will vary. [In general, a whisky with an age statement will be different from year to year, but in this case, it’s a pretty big change]. The Thirty is a little waxy on the nose with a bit of musky funk. There’s just a hint of sherry, but it’s pretty subdued. I don’t pick up any smoke here at all, although apparently this single malt has been “crafted” from peated spirit. Remember: the older peated whiskies tend to diminish in their phenolic content with age. Let’s go in for the taste. The Thirty comes in extremely smooth, and silky, still with that waxy flavour, but then it gets darker, moves into the sweeter territory, and finishes with a hint of fortified wine [must be that port cask]. It offers a long and unexpected journey, one which I wasn’t prepared for, and I can’t wait to go on it again. But let’s turn to that Undisclosed bottle.

A distillery may sell its stock (or sometimes just one cask) to an independent bottler, but ask them not to name the source for a bunch of different reasons. Often they may feel that the whisky doesn’t represent their character, their DNA, or the brand. It doesn’t mean that it’s a bad whisky, but one could be put off by the lack of transparency. I found this bottle of 30-year-old Speyside at the Berry Bros. & Rudd shop in London. The price was damn good (I think I paid something under £200) so why is all the mystery? I’ve tried it by itself and wasn’t impressed, but then it won the round against another secret Speyside bottled by That Boutique-y Whisky Company. The Undisclosed offers up more sherry than I remember from the past tastings (this is partially due to the comparison against the BenRiach here). It doesn’t really taste that old, and it feels like if they held it for another five years it would have turned out just the same. It’s a pretty clean-tasting dram, very direct, with no sudden turns, and just a hint of sherry on a pretty short and sudden finish. I’m going to drop just a bit of water into both and see how they mellow out – BenRiach will get a little less because the Undisclosed is at 48.9% ABV. Let’s try them in reverse now. The Undisclosed is super nice and is a great example of a perfect Speyside whisky. But it’s almost too perfect, with not much personality or something unique to remember it by. It was most likely filled from a very non-active refill sherry cask. On to BenRiach. There is just a little bit of smoke now on The Thirty and I like a little of that bitterness on the very edge. That “winy” flavour went away with water, but it is still there, especially in the finish. It’s very much the opposite of the Undisclosed and there is almost too much going on here, with not one single note more prominent than another.

So this is a tough one, folks. They’re both 30 years old, but so very different, almost on the other ends of the spectrum, and none really exhibit what I would expect from a 30-year-old whisky. But then, who are we to expect something? The truth is, I’m not really happy with either. I can’t picture myself shelling out so much money for The Thirty, while I think I got what I paid for with the Undisclosed. The BenRiach is flamboyant. It’s like everyone in the orchestra is trying to play their loudest. They’re all in tune, but not in sync – I would want the bass to carry the violins, but instead it comes in a bit later, with a longer release. But the short finish on the Undisclosed is also a big minus because it instantly becomes forgettable. So which one wins this round? I think I’ll have to call a draw today.

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p.s. Some research may reveal further origins of the Undisclosed. From Wikipedia: “In 1923 Berry Bros. & Rudd launched Cutty Sark Scotch whisky. In 2010 the brand was sold to The Edrington Group; under the deal, Berry Bros. & Rudd acquired The Glenrothes single malt, which was then sold back to Edrington in 2017.” In my previous scavenging of the internet, I spotted a similarly numbered cask from “A Secret Speyside Distillery” bottled in the same year, and this one had honed in on “Rothes, Banffshire” as the origin. So chances are, it could be one of those older casks that BR got from Glenrothes, and bottled as the Undisclosed.