Category: Old and Rare

I’m going to spare any pretense about the 1979 Old and Rare Benrinnes 40 Years and tell you right now it’s delicious. Everyone who tried this bottle before its demise at my going away party enjoyed it; especially me. I enjoyed it a lot and a lot of it.

This once-in-a-lifetime bottle was a multi-celebratory bottle. Turning 40 during a lockdown in a global pandemic; coming out of it and getting a new job; marking the end of a 12-year run of living in SoCal; a parting bottle to be shared with my amazing LA friends and family.

In a nutshell, this bottle was the exclamation point on a fun, stressful, impactful, and utterly amazing chapter of my life.

Let’s get to drinkin’!

1979 Old and Rare Benrinnes 40 Years – Details and Tasting Notes

Whiskey Details

Cask Strength | Non-Chill Filtered | Natural Color

Style: Single Malt (Scotch)
Region: Highlands, Scotland
Distiller: Benrinnes
Bottler: Hunter Laing

Mash Bill: 100% Malted Barley
Cask: ex-Bourbon
Age: 40 Years
ABV: 42.1%

1979 Old and Rare Benrinnes 40 Years Price: NA – Auction, Specialty Store or Private Seller

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1979 Old and Rare Benrinnes 40 Years Tasting Notes

EYE
Light amber

NOSE
Roasted malt, caramel, vanilla, dried orchard fruit, honeycomb, brown sugar, hints of mango, baking spice and buttery oak.

An oily, heavy aroma that moves slowly through the olfactory.

PALATE
Dried orchard fruit, honey, oak, toasted graham, vanilla taffy, butter, nuts, cinnamon and some tropical fruit and leather notes.

Simultaneously dark and light with the earthy/oaky/leather notes and the bright fruit and honey/candy notes.

FINISH
Long -> Complex fruit, oak, caramel and spice fade to a mango/guava honey and earthiness.

BALANCE, BODY and FEEL
Perfectly balanced, full-round body and a heavy oily feel.

1979 Old and Rare Benrinnes 40 Years – Overall Thoughts and Score

This is duality in a glass and hands-down the best Benrinnes I’ve ever had. I’d even go as far to say that it’s in the top 100 whisk(e)ys I’ve ever had. The way it starts dark and earthy, then shifts to bright tropical fruit notes before settling down into buttery candy notes is fantastic. This Scotch is an experience.

And because I’m enjoying it so much, I’m a tad upset it’s a 700 ml instead of a 750 ml. I want that extra 50ml. Especially now that the bottle is gone. I wish I had that extra 50 ml and had set it aside to save for a rainy day when I was missing my LA fam; savor one last glass of this exquisite 1979 Old and Rare Benrinnes 40 Years and remember the good times.

SCORE: 5/5 (simply fantastic, can’t recommend enough ~ A/A+ | 94-99)

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