Benrinnes 12 Year Old Billy Miller Contract & Plant Hire Private Bottling (2017) 70cl
For the people of Billy Miller this bottle means more than what it does to us.
For us, it is a random bottle that nobody else in the world probably will ever have that we are happy to have in our store. A bottle dedicated to those at Billy Miller Transport and Plant Company that was established in 2009. Since then they are still in business and doing everything right on Companies House so here is a dedicated bottle of Speyside Benrinnes for them.
If William would have known be back then and asked to try this, I could have written some tasting notes but since we were miles away from each other in different industries, we haven't had that pleasure yet. Maybe someday Billy will call me out of the blue and insist I come up for a dram where they are in Elgin, hopefully around the middle of January 2025 when I am there and all is well and good. May even post a photo of us doing that right here and get this bottle signed by him. Who knows.....
Until then, this bottle is a haulage mystery of contractual uncertainty.... it is a race. Cos if Billy signs it, then the price will go up by at least £5! Be warned now.
Whoever chose this...... I would like to know why ....
About Benrinnes
Located on the lower slopes of Speyside’s sentinel mountain, ‘The Ben’ is another of those intriguing distilleries which produces a highly individual make but which – due to its demand by blenders – has never become a front-line single malt.
It has six stills which are run in two pairs of three. For years a form of partial triple distillation was utilised to help promote a meaty/sulphury new make character. The low wines from the first distillation were split into strong and weak feints. The lower-strength portion was redistilled in the middle still and split into two again, with the stronger part [strong feints] being carried forward, the weaker being retained for the next charge. The strong feints were then mixed with the highest strength distillate from the wash still and redistilled in the spirit still.
Everything is run through worm tubs which are kept very cold, adding weight and meatiness to the spirit. In recent years, this complex distillation has been simplified.
Occasionally seen as an independent bottling, the clearest manifestation of its meaty quality (which puts it in a similar stylistic camp as Dailuaine, Mortlach and Cragganmore) is Diageo’s Flora and Fauna bottling which comes from 100% ex-Sherry matured whisky.
The current site of the Benrinnes distillery is in fact its second location. The original was built in 1826 by Peter MacKenzie but was destroyed in a flood in 1829. A new site was then found by John Innes.
Its most famous owner was Alexander Edward who was a partner in Craigellachie distillery, owned Aultmore, Dallas Dhu and was for a time co-owner of Oban [see Craigellachie]. The Edward family sold the distillery (which had caught fire in 1896) to John Dewar in 1922. It is now part of the Diageo stable.
40% ABV
70cl
