Benromach Golden Promise Barley Edition, Created Exclusively for The Whisky Club

A five-star, history-making single malt from the tiny Benromach distillery. For the first time since 1990s-era Macallan, a distillery has made an age statement, 100% first-fill Sherry matured, using ultra creamy 100% historic Golden Promise barley single malt. Distilled in 2011 and 2012, this treacly parcel of rare-malt casks is available exclusively to Members of The Whisky Club.

United Kingdom

Colour Bronzed rouge

Nose Manuka honey, thick treacle, rich fruit cake, vanilla and toasted almond.

Palate Thick and creamy, with sultana, raspberry and waffle cone, a lasting finish of campfire marshmallow and hazelnut affogato.

Overview

Only three Scotch distilleries have distilled 100% Golden Promise barley single malts in recent memory. The Macallan, Ardnamurchan, and Benromach.

These are the only distilleries with the skill, craft and connections to make proper use of Golden Promise barley: a renowned heritage grain that’s responsible for some of the all-time greatest Scotches ever made.

One of the first barley varieties to be bred specifically for Scottish growing conditions, Golden Promise’s super oily and flavoursome character quickly made it a hit when it was first developed in the 1960s.

While the rest of the industry soon moved on to newer, higher yielding barley strains, some distilleries – Macallan in particular – recognised how important this remarkable strain was to great spirit: “Tests we conducted showed that without Golden Promise the new make spirit lacked guts and oiliness,” says David Robertson, former Macallan Master Distiller.

Macallan stopped producing 100% Golden Promise spirit in the 1990s, when it got too expensive for them to bear, but have kept it as a crucial 25% of their mash-bill since.

So. The last fully Golden Promise single malts matured entirely in Sherry with an age statement on the bottle are those 90s Macallans, which go for $1000s these days.

Enter Benromach, with this momentous malt: Benromach 13 Year Old Golden Promise Barley Edition, Created Exclusively for The Whisky Club.

Distilled in Benromach’s tiny, old-school distillery across two small vintages in 2011 and 2012, it was matured entirely in first-fill Sherry casks before bottling at a lush 46% ABV.

Massively creamy, with vibrant sherried fruit and the undeniable malt backbone and texture of Golden Promise, it’s sweet, spiced and unbelievably sumptuous.

Having come exclusively to Members of The Whisky Club as August’s Whisky of the Month, this is a one-of-one dram that can stand beside the all-time greats of this storied grain.

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THE SPECS

Price: $130.00

Age: 13 Years Old

ABV: 46%

Maturation: 100% first-fill Sherry

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Benromach's History

Benromach’s is the story of a true craft distillery. The smallest of Speyside’s 50-odd distilleries, it was founded by Duncan McCallum and F.W. Brickman near Forres in Moray in 1898, right in the middle of a whisky boom. Unfortunately, their timing couldn’t have been worse. Just two years later, the infamous Pattison Whisky Crisis hit, taking Benromach — and plenty of other distilleries — down with it.

Over the next few decades, Benromach saw more comebacks than a retired rock band. It was acquired in 1911 by Harvey McNair & Co who ran it until the onset of the First World War. Shortly after the war it was revived by a new company, the Benromach Distillery Ltd. This continued until 1925, when things stood still again, before reopening in 1937 under the ownership of Associated Scottish Distilleries Ltd.

Eventually Benromach was purchased in 1953 by DCL, who then rebuilt the distillery in the 1960s and again in 1970s – though this didn’t save Benromach from closing yet again, and like so many other distilleries of the era, it was mothballed in 1983, closing its doors alongside icons like Port Ellen.

Luckily, that wasn’t the end of the story. Family-owned independent bottlers Gordon & MacPhail had always dreamed of running their own distillery. In 1993, they bought Benromach — but what they inherited was basically an empty shell. The previous owners had stripped it bare, right down to the fixtures and fittings.

Undeterred, the Gordon & MacPhail team set to work, rebuilding Benromach from the ground up while drawing on their generations of whiskymaking expertise. Their goal? To revive the classic Speyside style of the early 20th century — rich, elegant single malts with just a whisper of smoke. Back then, peat was the main source of fuel for drying barley, so even Speyside whiskies carried a subtle smokiness.

Luckily, along with the distillery, they also purchased the last remaining casks of old Benromach, and this allowed them to recreate the pre 60s style of whisky that Benromach is now well known for.

Five years later, in 1998, Benromach was officially reopened by none other than HRH Prince Charles. Since then, the distillery has been producing a range of beautifully balanced single malts, all made by a small, passionate team — just the way it used to be.

Their signature whiskies capture the soul of old-school Speyside: soft, fruity spirit with that delicate smoky edge. And if you’re in the mood for something a little more adventurous, the Contrasts range lets the team flex their creative muscles with experimental casks and processes.

From near ruin to a thriving, family-run distillery, Benromach is a true comeback story — proof that even the smallest distillery can make a big impact.