Benriach The Smoky Ten

Rating: 16/23 N: This needs a few minutes to open up. After it does, peaty smoke comes out along with a little bit of slightly salted roast pork loin. But there's some nice fruit as well. I get something red like cherry but less opinionated. Then there is a little tangerine moving into orange. There's a light vegetal character coming out of the peat that fits quite nicely. A little herbal as well, but more vegetal. Some black pepper with he pork loin. It's nicely balanced and avoids smelling youthful. There's not much interesting happening here, but it's appealing. P: The smoke hits first, along with the peat. The peat is nice. It brings in the herbal and mild vegetal character, adding dimension. There's some sweetness from the malt hanging out underneath, but the fruit also slips in, adding some nice character. A hint of cherry mixes with fairly prominent tangerine and a bit of orange. I get a little oiliness as well, which pairs with a sort of light caramel flavor coming out of the malt (like caramel cooked to 330F - it has some of that richness, but it's not that bold). On the spice side, I get cinnamon coming out of the wood, but it's not a ton. There's some nice chocolate flavor as well. Perhaps a touch of black pepper. More like black pepper flavor without the heat. Maybe there's some roast pork here, but it's hard to detect. Yeah, there's a bit and it's lightly salty. I do get a bit of youth out of this, but it isn't bad. There's nice complexity and balance. F: Smoky herbal vegetal funk wit a bit of roast pork with black pepper. Some lingering oiliness. Faint tangerine, sort of like the pith was left behind. - Conclusion - This is really nice. There's a lot happening and it all fits together nicely. This crushes Old Pulteney 12 (14/23). This can't be below a 16. It's not amazing, but it's very good. Comparing this with Amrut Peated (17/23) is tough. The Amrut is oddly more earthy with some jalapeño to it. There's a lot of depth to the Amrut that I don't really remember - I think this is affecting my usual perception of it. Is this as good? Better? Worse? Well, switching back to this, I'm finding that it tastes more youthful and muddled. The flavor here covers a broader part of the spectrum, but I'm inclined to place the Amrut ahead of this. I normally think of the Amrut as a low 17, so that probably seals the deal, placing this in the 16 bucket.

VERY NICE, fresh NOSE, very aromatic. Fruity, and very floral. Treacle, chocolate milk mix. Big big COCOA powder. Molasses-y, mineraly, slightly dry RUM is dominant upfront, then recedes and blends itself into the background with aeration, as fruit and PEAT take over. Candied lemons, lime, kiwis. Green apples and apple drop candies. Pears (with time). Papayas, mangos, pineapple. Red currants. Honey melon. Zesty tropical type fruits I'm finding it hard to identify (certainly from the rum maturation). Gooseberries and rhubarb. Raspberry note (with time). Brambles (blackberries) and black currants. Beautifully BALANCED between SWEET & syrupy and sharper FRUIT NOTES. A fresh green ferny thing (with time). Lime peels, banana peels. Sweet oranges or tangerines, faintly, with time. Leather in the back of it. THE PEAT adds a delectable savoriness but does not dominate. RICH MEDIUM-dark CHOCOLATE, with the peat, on the PALATE. PeaT heaDs will, let me say, not be disappointed here - nor will those looking for a luscious and sweet dram with some depth and dimensionality to it. There's less fruit in the mouth than on the nose; you get the baseline sweeter fruits, but not so much the fresher type ones. Sweet candied lemons most prominent there. Pear drops / apple drops. Treacle again. I'm definitely also getting the applewood that is in the official tasting notes here. The PEAT and the RUM I would say makes for a very satisfying chewy experience: and one that lingers on the finish. SWEET, fruity, aromatic, peaty: the SMOKY TEN 1''0, to me, has got it all, and everything in sublime balance. Good casks! Very highly recommended. ( One late afternoon neck pour and one very late night second pour. )

Nose - ashy peat, smoked meat, lemon pith, apple, pear, honey, molasses, white pepper, nutmeg, vanilla, brine, resin, sweet floral notes, caramel, leather, mild to moderate ethanol burn. Taste - smoked meat, fresh peat, ginger, chili pepper, apricot, pear, honey, apple, caramel, brine, vanilla, clove, sour oak, moderate alcohol bite, finishing medium length with ashy peat, citrus, and peppery ginger flavors. My BenRiach series continues with this Smoky Ten release, heir apparent to the discontinued Curiositas offering. I’m hoping they haven’t raised the prices just to deliver a lower quality product. Let’s find out. The nose is very similar to Curiositas’. It’s ashier than its predecessor, and I don’t remember detecting a brininess like I do here. The palate has a more acrid smokiness and a pithier citrus quality. The mouthfeel is thin, borderline watery, and the finish is average. As feared, the Smoky Ten isn’t as good as Curiositas. The nose is about the same, but the palate is noticeably inferior. It’s not bad, but I’m disappointed in the direction this has taken. Safe to say, I won’t be buying a bottle at the $70 price point it has near me. Next up, I’ll be trying the Smoky Twelve. Maybe the extra two years and different cask influences will make a positive difference.

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.

This one is kind of a miss for me. The smoke is there, and I think the peaty smokiness is the best part. It has nice malt flavors, but the rum cask aging really throws my palate off - it gives sort of a funky, sweet, pineapple, tropical fruit, citrussy, overly sweet body that wrestles with the smoke in a way that just turns me off. I feel like the rum character could be a nice addition to this malt, but it's too much the main flavor from my point of view than a supporting character. It also has an oxidized funkiness similar to what you might get in sherry finish, but I don't enjoy this heavily rummed scotch it the way I enjoy a heavily sherried scotch. It's not terrible, but I don't particularly enjoy it. I could see someone else liking it. If I could get this corr whisky in a bourbon or sherry aging without the rum, I anticipate that it might really do it for me. If you haven had it, try it and make up your own mind, but as for me... I have no plans to replace this bottle once it's gone.

(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.