BENRIACH AND GLENDRONACH LOOK BACK OVER A UNIQUE AWARD-WINNING YEAR
AS 2011 draws to a close, the BenRiach Distillery Company Ltd - owners of BenRiach and GlenDronach - has been looking back on its most successful year ever.
Managing Director Billy Walker said: "We have been very fortunate to win a number of top awards this year which reflect the passion our people bring to the art of whisky creation.
"They are also testament to the huge amount of time and energy we dedicate to our wood management programme."
Billy highlighted three awards of which he was especially proud this year.
First, at the 2011 Malt Maniacs Awards, the company won two gold, four silver and three bronze medals.
The GlenDronach 1972 bottling of cask 712 was the best overall whisky in the competition. 1972 cask # 712 was bottled earlier this year as part of the fourth batch of GlenDronach single cask bottlings. That meant that, for the second year running, a 1972 GlenDronach won best overall whisky; the previous year was a 1972 bottling from cask 700, a Taiwan exclusive.
Also at Malt Maniacs, of only eight gold medals up for grabs, GlenDronach won two while the recently-launched GlenDronach 21 year-old "Parliament" and the BenRiach 1976 cask # 6942 (from Batch 8) both won silver.
Second, Billy was also gratified by numerous excellent reviews in Jim Murray's 2012 Whisky Bible.
"Jim made a number of very kind comments in his new book, but the highpoint was his singling out GlenDronach as the distillery with the most consistently impressive output throughout 2011.
"He very generously concluded by saying: "If there was a Whisky Bible Scotch Malt Whisky Distillery of the year, GlenDronach would be it."
"That was very special."
In the "Bible", there were fantastic scores for two relatively new expressions - the BenRiach 12 year-old Sherry Matured and BenRiach 15 year-old Solstice.
The GlenDronach 1992 bottling of cask 161 (from Batch 4) gained 96 points and was voted 'single malt - single cask of the year in the 16 - 21 year-old section'.
The GlenDronach 18 year-old went one better and achieved 96.5 points as did the BenRiach 1971 cask # 1947 (Batch 8) while the GlenDronach 1972 cask # 712 (Batch 4) achieved 95.5 points. BenRiach 1976 # 6942 (Batch 8) gained 95 points and there were stunning performances from three of the five GlenDronach single cask bottlings from Batch Five, released only last week, which also scored 95 plus.
And finally, Sales Director Alistair Walker looked back on a phenomenal IWSC this year at which BenRiach and GlenDronach won an unprecedented nine awards including two trophies.
"IWSC is the one every whisky producer wants to win. It's the most prestigious competition of its kind in the world and carries huge weight and credibility through its reputation and history. As you might expect, we were ecstatic to do so well."
Star of the IWSC show was the BenRiach 12 year-old sherry matured which won two trophies while the BenRiach 20 year-old also picked up a gold medal.
Said Alistair: "For a small independent distillery like BenRiach, to win two trophies for the same single malt was astounding - especially when you consider all the big multi-nationals which also participated."
Our pictures show the GlenDronach 1972 cask # 712 and the BenRiach 1976 cask # 6942.
