BenRiach grows range with 18YO and single casks

BenRiach is expanding its Scotch portfolio with the addition of the heavily peated 18 Year Old Latada and its 12^th batch of single cask bottlings.

18YO Latada joins BenRiach’s range of peated wood finished expressions

Latada is a limited edition, heavily peated single malt matured in American oak and then finished in Madeira casks. It is non-chill filtered and bottled with its natural colour at 46% abv.

4,001 bottles have been made available for purchase.

The Latada name comes from a traditional trellised vine system used on Maderia where wines are laid out horizontally along the ground.

Said to “pair the earthy, smoky notes of peat with delicate hints of pear, honey and citrus”, the whisky becomes the independently-owned distillery’s third expression in its range of peated wood finishes, alongside BenRiach Albariza and Dunder.

BenRiach has also released Batch 12 of its single cask releases, comprising nine casks bottled in June this year.

Ranging from 14 to 38 years old, each has been hand-selected by BenRiach managing director and master blender, Billy Walker.

“Every single cask bottling is an exclusive limited release,” Walker said.

“I have selected these nine casks as I believe they are especially noteworthy – highly individual, rounded, full of personality and ranging in fascinating characteristics.”

The oldest in the batch is a peated 38YO whisky from a bourbon barrel numbered 541. The youngest is a 14YO from cask 69116, described as “a classic Speyside malt”.

Unusually for BenRiach, the 1998 whisky from cask 6394 has been triple-distilled and finished in a Pedro Ximenez Sherry puncheon.

The full batch is as follows:

• 1976 cask # 541 / 38 years old / Bourbon Barrel / Peated / 48.8% vol
• 1979 cask # 517 / 35 years old / Bourbon Barrel / Peated / 46.9% vol
• 1985 cask # 10318 / 29 years old / Bourbon Barrel / Peated / 49.0%vol
• 1987 cask # 3825 / 27 years old / Tawny Port Hogshead / Tawny Port Finish / 52.9% vol
• 1990 cask # 4936 / 25 years old / Bourbon Barrel / Classic Speyside / 50.4% vol
• 1995 cask # 74743 / 20 years old / Bourbon Barrel / Classic Speyside / 58.9% vol
• 1998 cask # 6394 / 17 years old / Pedro Ximenez Sherry Puncheon / Triple Distilled / Pedro Ximenez Sherry Finish / 57.5% vol
• 1999 cask # 8687 / 15 years old / Oloroso Sherry Puncheon / Oloroso Sherry Finish / 56.1% vol
• 2000 cask # 69116 / 14 years old / Bourbon Barrel / Classic Speyside / 56.3% vol

In July this year, BenRiach announced plans to expand the distillery following “record” annual profits.