BenRiach Birnie Moss Intensely Peated

White wine, salt, earth on the nose. Flat profile building strength, lingering on the palette. Peaty.

Au nez, c'est vraiment tourbé mais en légèreté, herbeux ; très sympa. En bouche, la tourbe dépote, sèche et herbeuse, mais avec un peu de rondeur ensuite. La finale est dans la bouche, très minérale et avec une pointe de foin.

So, my work has been killing me for the better part of 3 weeks now- I’ve been averaging 64 hours a week spent slaving behind a PC monitor or tromping through the insane amount of rain we’ve been receiving here in the mid-Atlantic region of the US. I’ve only had a dram or two in the last 2 weeks and I haven’t really felt like reviewing anything either. I did finish off the last of this bottle of “intensely peated” BenRiach, titled Birnie Moss. It’s a non-USA release, NAS that’s bottled at 48%. It’s light gold in color, very oily and makes tons of skinny legs in the taster. The nose is salty shoreline, harsh oak barrels and oddly enough, butter. There’s a decent smoke level, especially for a BenRiach. The palate follows suit: heavy salt, Lagavulin-ish BBQ’d meats and smoke. The overall mouthfeel is weak, especially for a 48%er. There’s a lack of depth as well. I don’t get any sweetness or barrel character on the tongue- that’s a significant indication of the youthful juice in play here, I think. The finish is medium length, with those same BBQ’d meats hanging around alongside a warming, light smoke. There’s not much character here, but then again I guess that’s what they are showcasing. This is the malt that gets thrown in various wine casks for long aging and turned into something glorious. This is a taste of what BenRiach considers an “intensely peated” malt, so I guess this is more of a tease than a quality offering. Overall, the lack of depth and youthful spirit really don’t warrant a separate, special bottling. This juice just needs to go into a finishing cask of some sort and turned into something greater. As it is, it’s 2.5 stars at best. I believe I paid less than $50 for this bottle, which is a good deal, but I don’t see the need to replace it, either. Cheers.