BenRiach Heart of Speyside

Rating: 11/23 This looks to be the NAS release a step below BenRiach 10. So it's probably not good. N: There's a bit more life to this than there is to the BenRiach 10 nose. BenRiach 10 is fuller with a smoother, more viscous nectary smell. This has a less full scent, but there are more things going on in it with citrus, wood spice, malt, has, pasture, and a dash of sulfur being readily apparent. There's a bit of a light nectar mineral sweetness to it, but not at all to the same extent as on the BenRiach 10's nose. P: The regular BenRiach 10 has a light, nectary palate with bourbony influence and a little bit of hay and such. In contrast, this has a less viscous mouthfeel and less fullness. It's also harsher. There's a dry floral tartness and also some lemon and bread to the profile here. There's a bit of vanilla, but not as much as in the BenRiach 10. They're decent flavors, but nothing great and the sulfur does stick out. The harshness also really isn't doing the dram any favors. It has some pasture and a little bit of salt, suggesting that it may want to be Springbank 10, but it's pretty far from actually achieving that. F: It doesn't end terribly harsh, but it is quite dry and some of the hay does linger a bit. It's a bland finish overall, but not a bad one. Despite it's comparative blandness, I do have to say that I prefer the BenRiach 10, though this isn't tremendously inferior. It's bland like BenRiach 10, but also has the taint of a cheap scotch. OK, that isn't entirely fair: the sulfur and other off elements do add complexity, but they don't make it better. This takes BenRiach from being a boring sipper to being actually a little bit unpleasant. It's not totally awful, but it is down there for sure. I like it better than some of the bottom-shelf stuff like Piper's Clan, Glen Logie, and Grant's. I'd say that this is above Grant's, closer to Highland Queen Majesty Sauternes in quality with a similar generic scotch profile. Probably it's around the quality of Sir Edward's 12 (well, a bit higher than Sir Edward's), but not with that particular oily profile. It seems about on par with the quality of Highland Queen Sauternes. It's harsher and less rich and nectary, but it has a more complex and traditional profile, as well as a bit less sulfur. It's a tough call between the two, but considering the price I would definitely take the Highland Queen. This is certainly not higher than an 11 and it could be a 10. I think I'm going with the 11, but it's borderline.

Very smooth not smokey. A bit nutty with strong pear smell. Easy to drink.

An interesting bottle of some creative cask mixing attempts. I assume the whisky itself is very young but what sets this one aside from other BenRiachs is the explosion of dried fruits you get both from the nose and the palate. It is a bowl of raisins, dried apricots and dates. It sadly doesn’t have much else to offer after that. But it is something different while also being very light. I think this might be a good whisky to present to people new to the whisky world.

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