This is one of the few heavily peated speyside whiskies produced by the BenRiach distillery. The distillery primarily makes non-peated scotch, so this particular expression is kind of special (but by no means rare), which I guess is where the “curiositas” in its name comes from. Of course, back in the days, all whiskies were kind of peated because of the production method in drying the barley, including the speyside, but today this is not at all typical for a speyside malt. The distillery has an interesting history. It started production back in 1898, but after only two years of operation, it closed down for 65 years. It reopened only in 1965 by the Glenlivet Distillers, and changed a few hands since then, including being self-owned by the BenRiach Distillery Company Ltd in 2004. It finally ended up in the hands of Brown-Forman corporation who also owns Jack Daniels, Old Forester, and GlenDronach among others. The pot stills used by BenRiach are pear-shaped, and the neck does not have a constrictor or a reflux bowl. This 10-year-old peated expression is non-chill-filtered, and presented at 46% ABV and natural light yellow color. The nose is rich in smoke, with the PPM level similar to the Islay whisky. The character of this smoke is a bit different thought, it is more savory, meaty, with earthiness and asphalt tar rather than being medicinal and iodine-dominated (although there is some iodine here as well). There is also some honey sweetness but also brininess, and floral honey suckle notes on the back, with a hint of some fresh fruit, perhaps some apples and pears. A touch of sulfur is also palpable. The palate is sweet smoke, with oaky aftertones and spice in the background. Very nice indeed, complemented by a rather short but pleasant dry wood barrel character finish. Despite its young age, I find this dram very interesting and engaging, and the peat character becomes more and more distinct from the Islay peat the further I get into this dram. A touch of water tames the smoke and rounds up the pallet. The umami meatiness and sweetness come forward, and the finish looses its charred barrel tone. I wouldn’t recommend adding too much water though, despite its decent ABV, this dram is quite easy to drown. Overall, this is an excellent dram for peat lovers. The peat is different from that of Islay, and this shows in the character of this whisky. Despite its young age, it has a lot of offer, and I wonder what its older siblings may taste like.