Whisky BENROMACH - 20th anniversary - Millésime 1998 - 56.2%
Benromach is a Speyside distillery, in Scotland, founded by Duncan McCallum and F.W. Brickman in 1898 and currently owned and managed by Gordon and Macphail of Elgin. It is located near Forres in Morayshire and is supplied with water from Chapelton Springs in the Romach Hills next to Forres. Duncan MacCallum previously worked at the Glen Nevis Distillery in Campbeltown and F.W. Brickmann was a spirit broker in Leith, Edinburgh. Construction work began on the site of the Benromach distillery in 1898, but due to the crisis in the whisky industry, the distillery did not start producing whisky until 1900 and closed the same year due to a lack of money. In 1911, Benromach was bought by Harvey McNair & Co, based in London, who continued to distill until the start of the First World War. After the war Benromach was bought by Benromach Distillery Ltd and was managed by this new private company until 1925. In 1938, Benromach was bought by Associated Scottish Distilleries Ltd which later became part of Scottish Malt Distillers Ltd. Between 1966 and 1974 the distillery was modernised and continued to operate until 1983 when it was officially closed. In 1993, Gordon and MacPhail took over the site and production resumed four years later. The design of the distillery has been changed slightly to allow it to be operated by one man. Finally, in 1998, the distillery was officially reopened by Charles, Prince of Wales and the bottling of the new Malt began in 2004.
Reminiscent of the Speyside tradition of rekindling the fire with chunks of peat when charcoal runs out, Scottish barley is locally grown and malted with a little peat smoke. Most of the flavour and character comes from using oak barrels for the first time after their initial use for making Bourbon or Sherry.
Distilled in 1998, this bottling celebrates 20 years of distillation at Benromach. Limited edition of 3,000 bottles.
Smoky