Benriach Brings Back Malting Season, Smoke Season Whiskies for 2022

Benriach is releasing the second edition of its Malting Season and Smoke Season whiskies. (Photo: Benriach)

Single malt scotch whisky brand Benriach on Tuesday announced the second-edition releases of two annual expressions: Malting Season and Smoke Season, which each serve as an ode to a different Benriach whisky-making technique.

Like its first edition, Benriach says that Malting Season 2022 is made in a way that brings out a “wholesome, creamy flavor.” Just as with last year’s Malting Season release, Master Blender Rachel Barrie selected Concerto barley. This year, however, Barrier increased the barrel strength.

Similar to the first edition introduced in the U.S. for the very first time in 2021, the second edition of Benriach Malting Season is created with a unique process that brings out the wholesome, creamy flavor found in the distillery’s floor malted spirit. For this year’s edition, Master Blender Rachel Barrie selected Concerto barley (same as first edition), and slightly increased the barrel strength – resulting in a slightly different flavor profile, thus making each annual edition a truly unique expression in its own right.

Malting season pays homage to Benriach’s practice of “floor malting,” in which barley is spread across the malting room floor after being steeped in water and turned by hand over several days. This process is said to allow the barley to optimally germinate. Benriach is one of seven Scottish distilleries to use the floor malting technique.

Benriach Malting Season is bottled at 48.9% ABV and sells for a suggested retail price of $159.99 per 700-milliliter bottle.

Benriach Smoke Season is a small-batch release that nods to the distillery’s seasonal production technique where peated spirit runs through its stills.

“The spirit is the result of exploring 100% intensely peated malt, batch distilled and matured in first fill bourbon barrels combined with a high proportion of charred and toasted American virgin oak casks,” Benriach wrote in a news release.

Benriach smoke season is bottled at 52.8% ABV and retails for $77.99 per 750-milliliter bottle.

“Passed from distiller to distiller throughout the generations, the floor malting process keeps a traditional part of the whisky-making process alive with Benriach,” Barrie said in the news release. “Meanwhile Smoke Season is a special time of year in the distillery’s calendar, and these annual releases give both the whisky novice and connoisseur the opportunity to discover the uniquely rich, sweet and smoky character of our Speyside single malt. At Benriach, we never stop exploring how fruit, oak, barley and smoke aromatics intertwine and mature in our broad range of eclectic casks.”

Benriach Malting Season 2022 Tasting Notes, Via the Brand

Color: Barley gold

Nose: Malt sweetness with barley sugar and mandarin covered in white chocolate

Taste: Honeycomb infused with citrus and orchard apple

Finish: Fruit, malt and vanilla cream

Benriach Smoke Season 2022 Tasting Notes, Via the Brand

Color: Burnished gold

Nose: Barbecue smoked fruit in a pine forest

Taste: Sweet caramel smoke and cinnamon-spiced roasted apple

Finish: Charred orange peel and hickory

Benriach Malting and Smoke Season whiskies are available in limited quantities in select markets.

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