BenRiach 35 year

Benriach tasting event, Sydney, June 24 2019. Spirit #4 Smell: Tropical fruits (papaya, mango), pineapple chunks cooked in honey and molasses. Muscatel grapes, raisins, very ripe pears and apples, hot chocolate. A tiny hint of mint and oak. Taste: A sweet, gently fruity and honeyed arrival, dusky with dark fruit sugars (like the crystals on dried figs). The characteristic BenRiach spicy note is present, but balanced against the fruit. The development brings a warm, earthy oakiness enlivened by every tropical fruit imaginable - pawpaw, pineapple in syrup, mango, starfruit, guava jam, mild stem ginger in nectar, sweetsop and mangosteen. As it opens, the earthy oak notes intensify a little and there is a mild elevation of the spice, but it never goes towards being hot or sharp. The texture is perfectly balanced between creamy and neutral. Finish: Long. A precisely balanced mix of everything on the palate slowly fades into oblivion leaving a subtle, creamy aftertaste. Assured, refined, poised and perfectly composed. A wonderful old spirit. The nose was completely unexpected. I had anticipated something faintly musty or perhaps dark and rounded, but in fact it is vibrant, bursting with life and yet simultaneously delicate. This is much more like the nose you'd expect on a fruity cask-strength expression. It was a delight to discover that the palate not only lived up to the promise given by the nose, but if anything it exceeded it. Concurrently full-bodied and serene, it is a palate that encompasses a vast array of flavors but never steps one millimeter out of perfect balance, a balance that carries majestically through into the finale. What a spirit, and what a revelation. BenRiach is characterized by a hot spicyness on the palate that, for me anyway, stands out too prominently and spoils the younger expressions. It was not until I tasted it in this very mature form that the spirit achieved a complex and balanced completeness - it seemed to have finally "come of age". This is easily the best expression of BenRiach I've tasted. If it were not so expensive I would have bought a bottle. "Outstanding": 92/100 (5 stars)