Five bottles of BenRiach and three of GlenDronach were lined up for an epic tasting event on Wednesday night, their average age in excess of 21 years. While there wasn’t a bad bottle among them, my clear favorite among the BenRiachs was this 21-year-old, one of two peated whiskies that we sampled. The BenRiach 10 Curiositas, its entry level peated offering, was the only whisky I’d tasted previously from the distillery and I found it pleasant if unremarkable. The 21 is in a different league. The peat has a unique minty quality to the nose that delights with its unfamiliarity. If you could bottle the flavor of a fresh sea breeze, this is what it would taste like: refreshingly crisp, salty and a touch sweet. The minty peat returns on the long finish, swirling in the current of the breeze. Like most of the BenRiachs we tried, this one is a combination of four different barrels, a signature of master blender Rachel Barrie. I came away hugely impressed by the skill with which she balances the flavors and full of admiration for a distillery carving a different path amid a sea of ex-bourbon matured whiskies or wine-cask show-offs. I hope to return to Temporis time and time again.