1901
BenRiach Curiositas 10 Year
Single Malt — Speyside, Scotland
Reviewed
December 12, 2020 (edited April 29, 2021)
Nose: smoke, coal, peat ash, heating oil or light diesel, wet pup, brine, apples and green bananas
Palate: light salt and peat, grape skin, citrus burst, orange, pineapple, clove, sweet and smoky
Finish: mint, red fruit, pipe smoke
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Semi-Final 2:
BenRiach Curiositas 10yo versus Glenfarclas 12yo
This is a quality scotch in my opinion. It is quite like the Kilchoman Machir Bay in that it charges your nostrils with a boom of fireplace ash. The ‘farclas rivals it with a very different but equally complex and more characteristically attractive fragrance. But the palate and finish of the Curiositas pull well clear. The taste holds that peatiness but it beautifully develops into a surge of fruity flavours, and the finish again holds the smoke but it is not overpowering or dry. I have already ordered a bottle of this and the other finalist Old Pulteney 12. As the youngsters say, this is totes amaze and I’m so not joking like.
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The intolerable torment of a whiskyphile. I have too large a backlog of samples and miniatures to go through. Like selecting what to watch next on Netflix, often selecting a dram can take twice as long as drinking it. So I developed a plan so clever you could put a tail on it and call it a fox. I have picked sixteen scotch whiskies that are 12yrs or younger or NAS to battle it out in a Scotch Deathmatch. It’s my incentive to lighten the logjam. Follow along if you care (and really why should you?). Oh the drama!
https://challonge.com/ScotchMadness
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Just saw your comment I have no variation in the script so must be the new one. Its still real good
@1901 I think its the new version but I dont know how to tell for sure
@Ctrexman different labels and font. I’ll let @Jan-Case correct me if I’m wrong, but the old one has CUrIOSITaS with the r and a in lower case whereas the newer one has it all in upper case
@1901 How would I know if old version or new
@1901 I have both but the new one I like better.
@Ctrexman I’m going to keep my mind open and clear of any bias before going into the final 🙄 Btw, picking up on what I’ve learned from @Jan-Case do you know if what you are drinking is the older or newer curiositas?
@jonwilkinson7309 i know, right? Real first-world problem though 😁
@ContemplativeFox you’re too kind. It’s a bit of contrived frivolity but nevertheless i am enjoying it and glad you are too.
@Jan-Case yes, big fan of it. Bought it recently and was happy that i got the older version (same as my sample). It’s thanks to your guidance based on the case of the letters in “curiositas” that i figure it to be the older one. 👍 I’m not so fond of rum finished whiskies, so I am a bit worried i may not like the newer ones.
@CKarmios yes, maybe with the exception of the Glenfarclas which i liked but didn’t call to me like the other three.
Have a bottle of this going right now and have to say its quite enjoyable. This has to take OP12
@jonwilkinson7309 emphasis on ‘too many opened bottles’ :-)
Laughing at "intolerable torment of a whiskyphile" I can't tell you how many times I've spent 20 minutes trying to decide what to drink, going back and forth between all of my samples and too many open bottles...
This tournament has been totes amazeballs ;) Looking forward to he finals!
Nice. I like seeing someone being as fond of this whisky as I am. Getting a bottle really is a no-brainer, especially because the VFP is simple great. Keep in mind that it is discontinued but fear not - the new “Smoky Ten” and “Smoky Twelve” from BenRiach are worthy successors. I would love to share samples of them with you guys but I don’t think the shipping to the US and other far-away places are just too expensive and insecure. Not even sure it would arrive.
I’d venture that all four semi finalists deserve a “would buy a bottle” mention.