There are bottles that arrive on your desk and immediately tell you something about intent. The Benriach 2013 Malting Season, Second Edition, is one of those. This is a distillery release that speaks to a very specific moment in production — a celebration of Benriach's floor-malted barley, a practice that fewer and fewer Speyside distilleries still maintain. At 48.9% ABV and carrying a price tag of £107, it sits in that interesting middle ground: accessible enough for the curious, serious enough for the committed.
Benriach has long occupied a quietly confident position in Speyside. It doesn't shout. It doesn't need to. The Malting Season series is built around barley that has been turned by hand on the distillery's own malting floors — a labour-intensive process that most producers abandoned decades ago in favour of commercial maltings. That this series exists at all is a statement of craft. The Second Edition builds on the foundation of the first release, and having spent time with both, I can say this continuation feels earned rather than obligatory.
At just under 49% ABV, this has been bottled at a strength that gives the spirit room to express itself without requiring you to fight through heat. It's a considered choice. You get the sense that whoever made the call on bottling strength was thinking about the drinker, not just the spec sheet. For a non-age-statement release, the maturity in the glass suggests careful cask selection — this doesn't drink young or raw.
Tasting Notes
I'll be honest with you: rather than fabricate specifics, I'd rather you discover this one for yourself. What I will say is that the floor-malted character tends to give Benriach releases a particular textural quality — a slightly fuller, grainier body that distinguishes them from their commercially malted counterparts. At this strength, expect the spirit to open up beautifully with a few drops of water. The Speyside DNA is there, but the floor-malting process gives it a handmade quality that's difficult to replicate industrially.
The Verdict
At £107, you're paying for something genuinely uncommon. Floor malting is not a marketing gimmick at Benriach — it's a real, physical process carried out at the distillery, and it shapes the spirit in measurable ways. The Second Edition demonstrates that the Malting Season series has legs. This isn't a one-off novelty; it's becoming a legitimate pillar of the range.
I'm giving this an 8.1 out of 10. It's a confident, well-constructed single malt that rewards attention. The bottling strength is spot on, the concept is backed by genuine craft, and it delivers a drinking experience that justifies the price. It loses half a mark for the NAS designation — I'd have liked to know what I'm drinking in terms of age — but the quality in the glass largely renders that a minor gripe. If you're a Speyside enthusiast looking for something that goes beyond the usual suspects, this deserves a place on your shortlist.
Best Served
Neat, in a Glencairn, with five minutes of rest in the glass. If you find the 48.9% carries a touch too much weight on first sip, add no more than a teaspoon of cool water — it tends to unlock the cereal character beautifully. This is not a cocktail malt. It's not a Highball malt. It's a sitting-down, paying-attention malt, and it deserves that respect.
