BenRiach Septendecim 17 Year

Both the regular 12 year old as the peated Curiositas 10 has made a great impression, which convinced me to try this 17 year old. It didn’t fail to impress: On the nose, one is greeted by fresh peat smoke and speyside apples. On the palate the same smoke shakes your hand, but brought some honey and nuts. The aftertaste is rather long and mainly sweet., truly Islay meets Speyside. Matured a full 7 years longer than the the Curiositas, the Septendicem has lost the few sharp edges of it’s younger counterpart. Depending on one’s taste that may be a good thing, as it adds some subtlety to explore, but some may prefer the slightly punchier spirit of the 10 year old. For me, it might depend on my mood. They’re both great drams!

Super, super good. Had a small mini bottle from finedrams. Top 3 peated for me, at least today.

Starting of strong with an excellent nose of peat and sherry, the much milder flavors then are unable to match that nose, and seem weak by comparison. Allowing it to sit in the glass for a bit calms the nose and seems to bring out more flavor on the palate. In the end a decent whisky, with a very nice nose, but the nose-palate mismatch remains to some degree and deters the whole package from meeting its potential.

Nice rich sweetness but ruined by that dang old sulfur