BenRiach Curiositas 10 Year

It’s raining outside, a gentle shower after a midsummer thunderstorm. The trees are dripping, and thunder and lightning fade into the distance. The aroma boasts vegetal peat. It is neither oily nor meaty, neither salty nor smoky — it just smells like mossy, boggy peat, and wonderfully so. Curiositas is buttery and creamy actually, both on the palate and in the mouthfeel. I taste marzipan, fresh cracked cardamom pods, and lemon peel. With the rounded and rather malty foundation, though, there are nuances, among them the sensation of floral jasmine after a rain shower. The juniper-like and peppery finish is somehow cooling. It’s not an easygoing dram per se, but it’s certainly one that I’d introduce to peat newcomers, and is overall a stellar quotidian malt. The creamy mouthfeel is elevated and the dram becomes sweetened when accompanied by an Hoyo de Monterrey de José Gener cigarillo, as it was tonight on the front porch.

Definitely recommend, don’t ever pass this one up!