BenRiach 10 Year Old The Smoky Ten - 70cl/46%

Distillery History:
BenRiach is in Speyside, built in 1898 by John Duff, silent for long stretches and restarted in 1965. In the 1970s it returned to Highland-peated malt, one of the few Speyside sites to run peated and unpeated spirit side by side. Brown-Forman bought it in 2016; Rachel Barrie is master blender. The core range is built on three-cask maturation. The Smoky Ten is the peated counterpart of The Original Ten.

Whisky Introduction:
Peated and unpeated spirit, at least ten years in bourbon, Jamaican rum and toasted virgin oak. Highland peat here is sweet smoke and applewood, not Islay iodine. Official smoke level is “Rich”; natural colour, 46%. Versus The Smoky Twelve (bourbon, sherry, Marsala), this is fruitier, with rum sweetness and new-oak spice more visible. Double gold at the 2021 San Francisco World Spirits Competition.

Tasting Notes:
Nosing: Orchard-fruit syrup, smoked honey glaze and oak spice.
Palate: Smoked applewood, honey maple and spiced pear.
Finish: Lingering fruit and smoked oak.