Single Cask Nation Benrinnes 11yo Cask #309616 & Single Cask Nation Longmorn 23yo Cask #800247

Single Cask Nation Benrinnes 11yo Cask #309616

Region: Speyside

ABV: 53.2%

Price: £72.00

This release was distilled in September 2011, and aged for 11 years, including a 21 month finish in 1st fill Sherry Hogshead. 240 bottles were released.

Nose

We’re initially getting red currants, cherry, dark chocolate, raisin, toffee crisp, and orange on the nose. It's just lots of sweet syrupy sherry notes with little (if any) of the original cask notes coming through. Going back to it and we can also pick out a little treacle, molasses, and red kola.

Palate

This has a reasonable mouthfeel, maybe just a touch thin. There’s cinnamon bark, carrot cake, cherry jam, and muted sherry flavours. We’re finding it slightly disjointed. Air reveals earth, mint leaves, thyme, walnuts, coffee, and date paste. It has a medium length finish with more bourbon style notes of dry oak, honey and eucalyptus lingering.

Nose (with water)

Reduction has made this meatier, there’s beef stock cubes, spare ribs, dark chocolate, tobacco, vine leaves, amontillado sherry, and walnuts. Personally we prefer the nose with a few drops added.

Palate (with water)

Similar to the reduced nose this has become less sweet. There’s more tobacco, dark chocolate, cherry and earth. We’re find much less fruit, and it’s more like sipping a mocha. The mouthfeel and finish remain consistent

Conclusion

Super sweet sherry nose that showed lots of promise, followed by a slightly disjointed palate. It’s a drier sherry on the palate, still nice but didn’t quite deliver what we expected. We’d recommend dilution it’s more interesting, and more in harmony with a few drops.

Score: 7.5/10

Single Cask Nation Longmorn 23yo Cask #800247

Region: Speyside

ABV: 51.8%

Price: £195.00

This release was distilled in 1999 and matured exclusively in a 2nd fill bourbon Hogshead for 23 years before being bottled in 2023. 260 bottles were released.

Nose

Initially we’re getting fresh apple, peach, icing sugar, French pastries, and almond croissants. It’s a little peppery, much more than we were expecting. Going back and there’s custard powder, lemon peel, a little tangerine. Not a bad nose lots of fruit, a little pepper and oak.

Palate

The nose was promising, but unfortunately we’re finding a thin palate, with alcohol, grapefruit, custard doughnuts, and caramel. It has a reasonable length finish, and there’s brown sugar, papaya, mango slices from a tin, candied orange peel, and dry oak lingering on the palate. A little disappointing to be honest.

Nose (with water)

With water we’re finding a creamier nose with artificial / synthetic strawberry sauce as the dominant note. There’s still some tropical fruit notes, mixed in with assorted baked goods that have been dusted in sugar.

Palate (with water)

It’s now sweeter upfront, with spicier with chili heat, it’s like a Thai papaya salad. There’s more bitterness now with orange pith, and sweetness disappearing quickly.

Conclusion

It has a massively disappointing mouthfeel, but pleasant nose and fine palate. It’s also hot in places, much more than we expected from the age. It’s also too expensive, doesn’t really benefit from water. We really expected and wanted more from this.

Score: 6/10

• 10 - Perfection. A whisky that we’ll remember forever.
• 9 - Amazing. We’d pay through the nose for a bottle.
• 8 - Great. Pick this up at RRP.
• 7 - Good. Happy to have a dram or two but wouldn’t buy a bottle.
• 6 - Passable. Would accept a dram, but wouldn’t seek it out.
• 5 - Poor. Would drink if it was the only option.
• 4 - Bad. Maybe it can be saved by ginger beer?
• 3 - Awful. It can't be saved by ginger beer.
• 2 - Pour it out
• 1 - We’ve never tried a whisky rated this low and hopefully never will.

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