Benromach is proof that Speyside, so often associated with delicate fruit and honeyed grace, can still deliver a dram with muscle, earth, and purpose. Situated on the outskirts of Forres, the distillery was founded in 1898 and has endured long spells of silence, changes in ownership, and more than a few brushes with obsolescence. Yet today it stands proudly independent, quietly reviving a style of whisky many thought lost to time.

Since its resurrection by Gordon & MacPhail in 1998, Benromach has charted a deliberately old-fashioned course. The production is hands-on and small scale, with a two-person team often running the stills. The barley is lightly peated, just enough to lend a wisp of smoke, and fermentation is long and slow to encourage complexity. Direct-fired stills, a rarity in modern distilling, contribute weight and character to the spirit, which is then matured almost exclusively in first-fill bourbon and sherry casks.

The result is a whisky that feels like a throwback in the best possible sense. Red apples, creamy malt, a hint of bonfire smoke, and a firm backbone of oak and spice. Benromach evokes the Speyside of a pre-industrial past, before steam coils and chill-filtration became the norm.

It’s a distillery with a strong sense of identity, guided not by fashion but by philosophy. In an age of ever-polished single malts, Benromach stands a little askew - earthier, weightier, and wonderfully human.