<snip>
My understanding (pure hearsay) is that the Benromach opened in 1998 is a
different matter altogether--the name purchased by a larger distiller.
<snip>
The old Benromach was, I think, owned by United Distillers (hardly small)
who dumped them. But no, I'm not sure when. Then Gordon & MacPhail who
bottled the old Benromach acquired the name, undertaking, premises and so
forth and created the new Benromach.
Although I know the name, Benromach is one of those malts I haven't actually
tasted (in either incarnation); so your comments have been noted with some
envy. But the avatar principle applies in all sorts of ways. The new Ardbeg
isn't a patch on the old Ardbeg; ditto the new Bruichladdich. Just before it
finally went belly up, Port Ellen (once a fine distillery) produced some
memorably awful bottlings that tasted, for all the world, like marinated
cigarette ends and, in parallel, some gems. And so on. There is also a
hugely convoluted tale (which I am not up to telling) about the relationship
between Brora and Clynelish.
And sometimes 'bad' whiskies can be good drinking. I used to be fond of
Inchmurrin, a clearly unbalanced malt which tasted more or less of
gangplanks mixed with rotting coconuts. You can become addicted to the
seriously weird
Ho Hum
CW
__________________________________________
'I might have known you'd choose the easy way'
(Franz Kline's mother)
|