The Banff distillery is buried and gone, but its memory is carried on by bottles of whisky like this, the 1976 Banff 21 years Cadenhead’s Authentic. This cask strength offering from the departed distillery isn’t what I’d call a seminal release, but it’s not bad either and at this point, with no more being made, beggars can’t really be choosers. What’s left is what’s left and so I feel incredibly lucky to have had even this. Below is a quick history about the Banff distillery courtesy of Malt Madness.
- 1824 – The first Banff built by James McKilligan & Co in Inverboyndie on the west side of Banff Bay
- 1837 – Taken over by Alex Mackay
- 1852 – Taken over by James Simpson (Sr. & Jr.)
- 1863 – James Simpson Jr. buit a new new Banff distillery (still in Inverboyndie) closer to the Great North of Scotland Railroad
- 1877 – Fire destroyed the production facilities. Rebuilt in the same year
- 1880’s – Expanded from 3 stills to 6 giving it a max output of 1 million liters / year
- 1921 – Simpson family sold a large % of the distillery to the London based Mile End Distillery Company (subsidiary ‘Taylor Walker & Co. Ltd. – a brewing company)
- 1924 – Stopped doing triple distillation in favor of double distillation
- 1932 – SMD (Scottish Malt Distillers) bought Banff for $77,855.00 and closed the distillery, but used the warehouses
- 1941 – Hit by bombs from a German Junkers Ju-88, destroying Warehouse 12 and causing the loss of thousands of liters of whisky
- 1943 – Repairs finished and became the official home of Royal Air Force troops till the end of WW2 when it resumed production
- 1959 – Fumes in the sprint still ignited during repairs. The explosion destroyed the still and damaged other parts of the distillery
- 1963 – Mechanized stoking for the coal powered still fires introduced
- 1970 – Stills converted to indirect heating (oil burners)
- 1983 – Distillery closed for the last time
- 1985 – Still house demolished and the rest by the end of the 1980s except for the warehouses
- 1991 – Last remaining warehouse burned down
Looking back at how fire-prone the Banff Distillery was, maybe it wasn’t fated to be around for too long anyways.
1976 Banff 21 years Cadenhead’s Authentic Info
Region: Speyside, Scotland
Distiller: Banff (1863 – 1983)
Mashbill: 100% malted barley
Cask: ex-Bourbon
Age: 21 years
ABV: 57.3%
Cask Strength | Non-Chill Filtered | Natural Color
Price: N/A
1976 Banff 21 years Cadenhead’s Authentic Review
EYE
Almost clear
NOSE
Malt, honey and fruit. It comes across light and young for something over 20 years old. I would have guessed a young Speyside if doing this blind, however what’s there isn’t too bad, just not very complex.
PALATE
Malt, vanilla, fruit and a touch of wood. The palate reads a bit older, but it’s still coming across light and without much flair or complexity.
FINISH
Malt and fruit fade to vanilla and wood on a short lived journey
BALANCE, BODY & FEEL
Not much there to balance, but what’s there sits in harmony. Medium body and a flaxen watery feel.
OVERALL
The 1976 Banff 21 years Cadenhead’s Authentic wasn’t a bad whisky, it just wasn’t an exciting whisky and at 21 years old I was surprised by its lack of complexity. Adding a little water did open it up a wee bit, but not enough to make a major difference. Still, an interesting whisky to try, and glad I did, but not one I’d go out of my way to hunt down. I’m sure there are some tremendous bottles of Banff out there, this however is not one of those bottles. After all, the owners couldn’t have fought to keep it open after numerous fires and having German bombs dropped on it if it was all mediocre… right?
SCORE: 80-82/100 (range given since it was not tasted at home)