Benriach The Forty is a 40 year old Speyside single malt Scotch whisky from the Benriach Distillery near Elgin. It is made from peated Benriach spirit, matured in bourbon casks and port casks from Portugal’s Douro Valley, and bottled at 43.5% ABV. Benriach describes it as one of the oldest peated malts ever released from a Speyside distillery.

Master Blender Rachel Barrie created The Forty from casks of peated spirit distilled four decades ago. Over that time the smoke has softened and receded, leaving ripe fruit sweetness with only a gentle trace of peat beneath.

Benriach The Forty Tasting Notes

• Nose: Sweet orange, plum and honeyed pomelo, with dark chocolate-coated berries, walnut and cherry liqueur.
• Palate: White peach, red apple and morello cherry, with walnut, kumquat and soft oak.
• Finish: Long and velvety, with ripe fruit, gentle spice and a fading wisp of smoke.

Peated Speyside

Speyside is known for unpeated, fruit-led whisky. In the 1970s, Benriach began distilling small batches of heavily peated spirit, an unusual choice for the region, and it has continued to do so ever since. Few of those early peated casks were left to mature for forty years, which is why releases like The Forty are rare. Long ageing transforms peated spirit: the sharp smoke of youth gives way to fruit, sweetness and depth.

The Forty and The Forty Octave Cask

Benriach released two 40 year old whiskies together. The Forty, this bottling, was first offered in 2022 as an NFT on the BlockBar marketplace, and physical bottles followed in June 2023 through specialist retailers. Its sibling, The Forty Octave Cask Matured, was finished in small octave casks, bottled at 51.5% and limited to 134 bottles for global travel retail.

Benriach Distillery

Benriach was founded in 1898 by John Duff, south of Elgin in northern Speyside. It is now owned by Brown-Forman, alongside The GlenDronach and Glenglassaugh. Under Rachel Barrie, Benriach is known for its range of styles: unpeated and peated, matured in bourbon, sherry, port, rum and virgin oak casks.