Benriach The Smoky Ten

(WoodWinters BenRiach Online Zoom tasting, 4th November 2020) Nose: Tropical fruit, honey, light caramel, light sweet caramel smoke Palate: Oily/ waxy, sweet light peat, cinnamon and ginger spices, maple syrup Finish: Campfire smoke, butter, salted caramel, plantain/banana, gooseberries at the very end. Uses a range of full maturation in bourbon, virgin American oak and Jamaican rum casks. Peated to 45ppm prior to distillation. There is a nice sweetness to the peat that is very different to an Islay. Quite a gentle introduction to peated whisky, and a nice hint of the tropical fruit of the rum. I was impressed at the tasting how easy it was to recognise a house style at Benriach. All of the core range and the CS are orchard fruit forward, with a well integrated vanilla.

This is the new evolution to its predecessor Curiositas, which is one of my favorite whiskies. That old version is discontinued now and so I’m hoping for this freshly opened bottle to fill its shoes properly. The nose is fresher then the Curiositas but has the same backbone. Next to vanilla and citrus notes with malty sugars and that familiar peat there also is some peppermint and roasted wheat bread. It is even smoother on the nose and has some more oak wood alongside. The nose is actually a bid better than the Curiositas. Later you get pineapple and sugared and cooked orchard fruits. The palate also a step up. Nice. Vibrant and rich with a slightly hotter but appropriate alcoholic burn. Not as sweet but still very much like burned caramel. The peat still very bright and not ashy at all. The finish isn’t as good but still nice. It is shorter and smoother than the Curiositas. The taste that remains is a bid like coka cola spices and equally sour sweet. A nice replacement for the Curiositas for sure - I miss nothing - I even prefer this new expression. Well done. For this price a really good pick.

Nose: smoke initially, notes of sweetness coming through Taste: hit with a spiced pear and honey initially, followed by the peat smoke that lingers