BenRiach is a Speyside distillery south of Elgin in Moray, built in 1898 by John Duff close to his Longmorn distillery. Production stopped around 1900 when Pattisons, a major whisky buyer, went bankrupt, and only the maltings kept working until distilling restarted in 1965. Brown-Forman has owned it since 2016.
The Twelve is matured for at least twelve years in three kinds of cask, sherry, bourbon and port, and the whiskies from each are then married together. It is unpeated, bottled at 46 per cent, and takes its golden bronze colour from the casks alone.
The nose is maple honey, cocoa and baked forest fruit. On the palate there is maraschino cherry, baked orange and hazelnut, finishing on sultana and spiced mocha. It suits an unhurried glass after dinner, neat or with a single large ice cube, and its fruit and nut character sits well beside a baked apple or a plate of hazelnuts and mature cheddar.