Three Spoonfuls of Benromach 'Organic'

It's been a long time since the last posting, and those who are sharp will be able to guess my occupation, based on the hiatuses on this blog. I've been sipping away at the bottles I have at home to get over the long nights wrestling with ghosts of Southeast Asia past, and have made good progress on the Writers' Tears, Mortlach 21, and the Kavalan Solist Sherry. The Springbank 12 has also been emptied. But alas, when you're relying on the drink to get through the night, you don't go about trying new stuff. You go back to the old dependables that have served you well. A long slog is no where to make new friends, contra Hollywood. Or perhaps a long slog only reveals one side of the new friend - his worthiness when things get rough. But a whisky needs to appreciated in the quiet of a comfortable living room chat, where there is more time for chatter and acquaintance making, instead of the rough and tumble of a long march. You make comrades, but a refined gentleman deserves better attention.

And so it came to pass that I have not tasted anything seriously since the last post, and I am, once again, prepared to settle down for a long chat with a new friend - the Benromach 'Organic'. This bottle came as part of the Benromach gift set containing the 'Organic', the 10 year, and the 'Peat Smoke', bottled in 2015.

Benromach 'Organic' (abv 43%)

Master of Malt says that this is the first Soil Association approved whisky, hence the 'Organic' label. Do they use GM soil for other whiskies? You cannot GM soil, right...? This was, also from Master of Malt, matured in virgin oak after a maturation period of about 7 years.

Colour - light gold, almost hay

Nose - Maybe it's the colour, but I smell hay. Grassy and leaf litter upon first nosing. With time, fruity notes emerge - pears, peaches, apples, then transiting to oak and a touch of coconut husks. Smells honeyed, with suggestions of toffee. The oak gets quite dominant, but the fruits and fresh grassiness keeps it smelling more like a orchard and less like the inside of a wooden barrel. That's a good thing.

Palate - Very grassy on entry, then oak takes over. Washes over your entire mouth, before receding to leave behind fruits - lemon zest, then the slight bitterness that also comes with lemon zest. After that, pears, peaches, and some honey. The persistent grassiness - is it from the oak, or some light peat? Some nutmeg and ginger sparkle on the tongue to keep the experience fresh and interesting.

Finish - Not drying, but you still taste the wood and grass/hay. Hints of dried coconut, light nutmeg, and a little fruit peel.

Overall, pretty good experience! I think I like Benromach already. Glad that they'll be present at Whisky Live Singapore this year in mid-November (go check out La Maison @ whisky.sg if you've not gotten tickets yet!) A side of Speyside that's sitting sort of between Glenfiddich and Mortlach, with less sulphur influence.

Thanks to YC for bringing this set of three back from the UK! Looking forward to the other two, which, I think, I will only be opening after I finish this. Which shouldn't take very long since it is just a 200ml bottle, and my mum experimented cooking with it...

Bonus Content - The Benromach Sesame Chicken

Horror of horrors. I think my mum has been eyeing my stock of whiskies and wondered how they'll taste in her cooking. She's certainly mentioned it a couple of times, but it was not just a casual mention this time. This time, she meant it. Started innocuously enough, with questions over price. Which is the cheapest, what tastes nice but isn't too sweet, etc. And then, "Which do you think will go with chicken with sesame oil?"

I stared at my shelf. Mortlach 21 - out. Inchgower 16 - nope. Ledaig - it'll probably taste weird. Bunnahabhain 24 - never. Yamazaki 18 - you've got to be crazy. And so, poor Benromach of the 200ml bottle bore the brunt of my mum's curiosity.

The chicken was first marinated with Chinese rice wine. Then, three soup spoons-full of Benromach 'Organic' went into the frying wok, along with sesame oil, dark soy sauce and shredded ginger. The moment the Benromach went into the wok, the entire kitchen was filled with the aroma of dying esters, evaporating alcohol, and a fruitiness that evidently did not come from any of the other ingredients in the wok.

The finished product was actually pretty good. The Benromach 'Organic' gave the chicken dish a slight fruity touch that would not have been there if my mum had used Chinese rice wine for the sauce as well. The shredded ginger masked the taste of the whisky a little, though I'm pretty sure that the Benromach didn't have much left to give after the baptism of fire. Nonetheless, the fragrance of alcohol still lingered in the after taste, and left a warming feeling on the inside of the stomach and along the gullet. Maybe I'm imagining things, but this does taste better than my mum's usual version of this dish.

In fact, I took a dram for my tasting notes above AFTER dinner. I figured that I MUST do a review before it all ends up in the next meat dish. Probably pork. Maybe I should convince my mum to use the Ledaig for that to give it a smoky, barbecued flavour...