Benrinnes 1997 Signatory 18 year old review

Benrinnes 1997 18 year old single malt whisky by independent bottler Signatory comes from a single cask like Signatory’s products tend to do. This is a malt from Speyside region, from Benrinnes distillery, but the casks are picked by Signatory company who also bottle the products. So the bottling is not done under contract like some independent whisky bottlings are being done. This is something that Signatory likes to bring up.

Signatory Benrinnes 1997 18YO has natural colour and my guess is, even though not stated, it’s been chill filtered. Matured in Hogshead Barrel number 3004 – barrel of undisclosed provenance which probably is European Oak. The bottle in question is number 123: Distilled 25th of March in 1997 and bottled 3rd of February in 2016.

A Delicate Balance

Benrinnes has never become a mainstream distillery due to heavy demand from blenders. It is regarded as the underdog distillery and Benrinnes whiskies of similar age range have been getting good reviews from Whiskyfun’s Serge Valentin, for example. Serge is a well known and respected whisky blogger, whose opinions usually have great value.

I can’t think of better movie reference than A Delicate Balance, based purely on the title. This Benrinnes 18YO has amazing balance and it is very easy to drink. Lacking some big character but very smooth and what’s best: tastes good!

I hate this statement but a typical Speysider this whisky is…

Benrinnes 1997 18YO Scoring