Wow! We imagined flaming a Christmas pudding, honey-roasting pecan nuts and candied strawberries. On the palate, we baked a chocolate raspberry cake with layers of dark chocolate, silky chocolate buttercream and a raspberry filling with a chocolate raspberry ganache. To drink we had a perfect Manhattan of rye whiskey, sweet red vermouth and gentian-herb bitters, garnished with a candied maraschino cocktail cherry. With a drop of water, if you wish, we enjoyed a rice pudding served with a liberal dash of blackcurrant liqueur. To taste it was creamy, like a warm blueberry muffin or a walnut brownie. Following 12 years in an ex-bourbon hogshead, we transferred this whisky into a first fill Spanish oak oloroso hogshead.

The BenRiach distillery is a single malt Scotch whisky distillery in the Speyside area of Scotland. It is currently owned by Brown-Forman Corporation after being purchased on 1 June 2016 as a subsidiary from the BenRiach Distillery Company Limited, formed by two South African funding partners, Geoff Bell and Wayne Keiswetter, and Scotch whisky expert Billy Walker. In 2008, the company expanded their portfolio with the acquisition of the Glendronach distillery.