Benriach The Smoky Twelve Whisky

No water required.
Lots of dark fruits, honey sweet and citrus orange zest . Some oily oak notes with a little peat smoke to finish.
A respectable Speysider .
£ for £ it represents great value in the £35- 50 range.

If it was called benriach twelve I'd have no issues. Really drinkable and if anything on the light side. It is smokey on the nose and it does finish smokey. The forward notes are more the marsala and sherry casks with a fruity or sharp taste, with a light vanilla/sweetness maybe from the bourbon cask. Nice nip but not overly complex.

Very impressed with this immediately from my freshly opened bottle. As others have mentioned, not as smoky as expected maybe (it’s not an Islay in the regard), but smoky enough to add something interesting and enjoyable to an already delicious dram. Doubt this bottle will last me long.

Freshly opened bottle. This has a very good, fruity, tangy, moderately smoky nose. The marsala fruitiness and smoke continue in the palate, and the bourbon cask influence becomes stronger in the finish, again with a significant measure of peaty smoke. This is a really nice dram with some serious thought given to how it all works together.

So I have the Smoky 12 and Smoke Season - both from Benriach in my cabinet. I have not yet tasted the SS - its fairly new. But had a taste of the S12 last night.
Its meh - definitely not smoky if you are fan of Islay whiskies.
But that said, its not a bad whisky by any means.
I will spend more time with it over the following weeks and hope it opens up some smoky notes.
speaking to the specialty whisky store I purchased from, apparently the Smoke Season is quite the hit. I may also open that up in the coming weeks as well and it will be nice to compare.
Enjoy

Sadly it does not hold up over time. After opening and with 3/5 left in the bottle, it has lost some of its attributes. Ashy smoke and sweetness is still present, but the fruitiness wears off.

It is still a decent deam, but others just does it better - I’d prefer Birnie Moss or Kilchoman Vintage over this.

Just great, lots going on and a wonderful balance between sweetness and smokiness.

Just great, lots going on and a wonderful balance between sweetness and smokiness.

Smokehead, Ardbeg, Talisker. Are all my firm favourites. This has just been added. Cream, honey and smoke all with enough prominence to enrich the depth of every sip. As soon I saw it was 46% I knew it was going to be something special, and it was.

This is a good dram very easy too drink and smooth and a good taste worth a try any day cheers