BenRiach is a Speyside distillery that John Duff built in 1898, near his Longmorn distillery south of Elgin.1,2,3 It closed in 1900 and made no whisky again until 1965.1,3,4 It began making some peated spirit in 1972 and some triple-distilled spirit in 1998.1,5,6Brown-Forman has owned it since 2016.1,2,4
Very good review score, 85 out of 100Very good85/100
Molasses, maple syrup and pepper lead to sorrel, lemon zest and cardamom, while the finish turns long, intensely peppery and bitter.
bitter
black pepper
butter
cardamom
+11 more
Producing, 1898–1900
Silent, 1900–1965
Producing, 1965–2002
Silent, 2002–2004
Producing, 2004–today
189819502000Today
Built beside Longmorn
Duff built it on a small hill, or 'ben', at the old Riach farm, though the Aberdeenshire heritage record names the Grant family as founders.1,2,3 A private railway with a steam engine called the Puggy joined it to Longmorn, carrying coal, barley, peat and barrels.1,4 It ran for just 2 years before the Pattison crash of 1900, when Pattisons Ltd., a major buyer of Scotch whisky, went bankrupt.1,3,4
Sources disagree: when it opened. This page uses 1898.
From 1900 to 1965 its floor maltings kept making malted barley for Longmorn.1,4,6 Longmorn Distillery Co owned it from 1900.6
Back at work for the blenders
After a renovation, its stills ran again in 1965.1,3,4 Sources name Glenlivet Distillers Ltd as its owner then, but one history says that firm formed in 1970, in a merger including Longmorn-Glenlivet.1,4,6 In the decades that followed, its whisky went almost entirely into blends.1,3,4 In 1972 it began making some spirit from malt smoked with Highland peat, rare for Speyside; in later Seagram years this smoky spirit went to blending.1,5,6 Seagram then took over: BenRiach's own history says in 1985, while reference histories give 1977 or 1978.1
Mothballed and sold
Pernod Ricard took over Seagram's whisky business in 2001, and BenRiach then ran for just 3 months each year.4,6,8 The distillery itself was mothballed in 2002.1,6 In 2004 Billy Walker and South African partners Geoff Bell and Wayne Kieswetter bought it from Chivas Brothers.1,4,9 Their new BenRiach Distillery Company filled its first cask on 20 September 2004.1,6,10
Next: Mothballed and sold, Floor malting and new owners, How it makes its spirit
After the 1985 purchase, it went from 2 stills to 4, and those 4 stills still run today.1
In 1998 it began making small batches of triple-distilled spirit, distilled a third time where Scotch is usually distilled twice, and now does so once a year.1,7
The same year, its floor maltings were mothballed, or shut but kept ready to restart.6
Sources disagree: when Glenlivet Distillers Ltd took over. This page uses 1965.
Its floor maltings reopened in 2013, though barley from them went into one release's spirit distilled in 2012.5,6,11 There, barley is spread across the floor and turned by hand to germinate.5,6,11 On 1 June 2016 Brown-Forman bought the BenRiach Distillery Company, which also owned GlenDronach and Glenglassaugh.1,2,4 In March 2017 Rachel Barrie took over from Billy Walker as master blender.1,5,12 In April 2022 Alan McConnochie retired as distillery manager, and Laura Tolmie took over.13
It draws water from a mineral-rich aquifer deep beneath the distillery; reference guides name the Burnside Springs.4,6,14 Once a year, in spring, it makes its own malted barley on site; Port Gordon Maltings is named as its malt supplier.6,15 Its malt is listed as Optic and Concerto barley with less than 2ppm of peat.6 It has 8 stainless steel washbacks, the vessels where fermentation happens.6 Fermentation takes 48 to 50 hours.6 It has 2 wash stills and 2 spirit stills.6 They are onion-shaped copper pot stills, and their vapour is cooled in a traditional column condenser.6 It can make 2,000,000 litres of alcohol a year.6 Its spirit has a fruit-laden character, which triple distillation enhances.1,6,14
