BenRiach Curiositas 10-Year-Old Heavy Peated

This is just a short tachles review. No rants. No lectures this time.

I do however want to thank all those guys who (obviously having time on their hands at the moment), have written to me recently from all over the world and told me how much they enjoy my blog posts. It is really heart-warming and gratifying to hear. Thank you all. Keep writing to me and I welcome suggestions for future articles and/or reviews you want me to do.

BenRiach Curiositas 10-Year-Old Heavy Peated. Around 250 Shekels

Matured in a combination of three cask types: Ex-Bourbon, Toasted Virgin Oak and Ex-Rum casks.

(Full marks for actually stating this on the front of the label).

Like all BenRiach expressions, this is Non-Chill Filtered, Natural Colour and bottled at a higher than minimum strength of 46% abv. Kol HaKavod.

I just love and have admired for many years now, the imaginative and unconventional thinking of their cask management at BenRiach and how they are always releasing unusual combinations as well as some wonderful single cask expressions.  Unfortunately, there are not many releases coming out of their stable at the moment, which do not have some kind of sherry cask maturation in the cask marriage, so this Curiositas was a rare treat.

This expression really does live up to its name as it really is a bit of a curiosity / peculiar whisky.

I thought I’d try a different format for this review to help in your further education in identifying the source of all those flavour influences. I’m going to list here some of the many aroma and flavour notes I got from this complex and multi-layered single malt, some positive and some really negative.

Aroma Notes (with a teaspoon of water added).

Aroma	Comment	Source of Influence
Strong aromas of smoked Vursht (Salami).	Positive if combined with something sweet and fruity.	Peat
Boiling Vienna’s (Sausages).	Same as above	Peat
Hint of Smelly damp flowers and mould.	Negative	Perhaps the Distillation or a bad cask.
Sweet smell of Airfix® Model Glue / Chemical Solvent.	Negative influence from the distillation stage.	Too young. Lack of aging or problem at distillation stage.
Strong aroma of burnt bitter sugarcane	Neutral. Adds to complexity when combined with other flavours.	Influence of the Rum Casks.
Sulphur and burnt matches.	Same as Above	Rum Casks.
Sweet Apple and sultanas.	Positive.	The white wine fruity New-make Spirit
Bitter Glazed Orange Peel	Positive, (kind of)	Combination of distillation and wood influence on the spirit
Wet vanilla and sultana Pastries, slightly doughy	Positive	Combination of Malted Barley and Yeast fermentation.
Slight Cider vinegar	Neutral. Adds to complexity when combined with other favours, like Craigellachie 13.	Distillation process. Influence coming from the new-make spirit.
Fresh Ginger	Same as above.	Oak Cask Influence. Wood Spices.
Copper kettle covered in soot.	Negative. Off putting.	Distillation process. Perhaps too much reflux from copper lyne arm and condensers?
Polished Walnut Wood	Positive.	Oak Cask Influence. Wood Spices.
Walnut Oil	Positive. Adds to mouth feel.	Combination of Barley mash and Oak Cask Influence.
Toasted wood aromas	Very Positive. Lovely!	Oak Cask toasting Influence.
A combination of a Brass metal smell and saliva.	Negative. It reminds of when I used to play a B-Flat Tuba in the school orchestra and had to clean it. Not pleasant!	Possible problem at the distillation stage?
Wild Scottish Thistle Honey	Positive	Oak Cask Influence.

Tasting Notes (with water added)

Note that these notes were taken over a two-month period where I tried desperately to enjoy this bottle. In the end, a frustrating failure.

Mouth feel is one of the most impressive features of this whisky. The body is big and oily and quite earthy.

When I first opened the bottle, (as they say, “the neck pore”), I was getting Smoked Salami Vursht and Boiled Viennas (Sausages) on the palate, but this taste kind of disappeared into the background after a few weeks. Had I not known this was matured in three separate types of casks, I would have probably guessed Rum casks, which are quite dominant with sulphur-y “burnt matches” / gun powder flavours. Sweet notes are identified by brown sugar, honey, yeast cake and vanilla cream biscuits.

As time went on, I noticed less and less of the smokiness and became more aware of a rather off putting unpleasant metallic copper taste. This for me, became the dominant flavour.

I must emphasise that I really tried hard to like this whisky but just could not get my head round all these strange off flavour notes. It does have a few positive features about it but the overall flavour satisfaction for me is not there. My eldest son also didn’t get on with it. He didn’t even finish his glass before asking for something else. Bitterly disappointing. I certainly won’t be buying another bottle (at least from this batch) and doubt whether I’ll even finish the bottle of the one I have.

Sorry guys. I love your distillery and what you are doing but simply didn't enjoy drinking this. Just my opinion mind you, as I have seen some really positive reviews elsewhere, so at least some people like this. However, in all honesty, I personally cannot recommend it.