BenRiach Curiositas 10 Year Old Single Malt Scotch

BenRiach Curiositas 10 Year Old Single Malt Scotch is my introduction to this Speyside distillery. A peated non chill filtered, natural coloured malt it rings in at $68.28 for the European 700ml bottle in Nova Scotia. We're loosing 50ml in a way, but at the same time we can feel that we're getting the same product as everyone else and this hasn't been somehow redesigned (dumbed down) for a North American audience.

So far everything is good and I like what I see on the label and the 46% abv finalizes the deal. This is scotch as it should be.

I'm leaning towards the Peated Scotches of late and this one has checked off all the right boxes. What's nice about peated malts is that often younger is better and that's something the wallet can agree with too.

The nose starts off with the delicious smell of peat and a little smoke and an added touch of sweetness. Its a nice little addition sitting in the background, its sort of fruitiness but the sort that would be really sweet, maybe pineapple? A little bit of water brings out more of the medicinal scents and more complexity. There's a good blend of subtle notes that you can come back to again and again. Is that chocolate in there hiding? Very faint but perhaps.

Smoke comes in on the pallete but then sweet comes in a wave followed by some more smoke. There a nice creaminess in there too that sort of reminds me of Glenmorangie, maybe this is what a Glenmorangie peated whisky would taste like. People are going to taste this and disagree. Not really like Glenmorangie at all... maybe if Glenmorangie had a peated cousin. There's a nice creaminess to it, a logic defying creamy smokiness. The sweetness continues, there's a good amount of sweetness that's interesting. Maybe honey? I don't know, I have no idea what honey tastes like, but this sweetness tastes the sort of sweet I would imagine honey to be.

A very nice lingering long finish with smoke but a smoke that doesn't overpower and matches lovely with the oak and woody notes that remain.

I'm impressed with this one and will definitely get it again at some point in the future. The idea of exploring the other BenRiach releases is also on my mind.

Ledaig 10 year old single malt scotch whisky

The Ledaig 10 year old single malt scotch whisky comes from the Tobermory distillery. We liked everything about the Tobermory 10 year old that we had to try the heavily (or as the box states "wonderfully") peated version of their whisky.

Ledaig is also un-chillfiltered so that's a definite plus and comes in at 43% alcohol, which is also good. A little more pricy than the Tobermory ($69.99) it cost $74.98 for a 750ml North American sized bottle. That's in an acceptable price range for a nice single malt. Not sure if caramel colour was added or not. We've got to assume it has been because it doesn't say it definitely hasn't.

I've heard that when it comes to peated malts you don't really want to go too old as it loses that wonderful peaty nose and taste after a while. I have no complaints about this young 10 year old.

The nose is of course quite intense. There's a big dose of peat and some good medicinal scents that may come across as too weird or intense for someone not used to it, but this definitely grows on you. This combines well with the slight sour smell (maybe that's the fresh smell of peat) but I'm not really that sure. Whatever it is, I like it. The most interesting smell here has to be the burnt smell that comes out strong, it's not the smokey smell that you get in other drams but a really nice burnt smell, like that of a fire pit that's burned out. All these smells combine quite well.

There's a good bite with Ledaig, spice and ginger come rushing in at first, but there's some sweet in there that develops over time and after the first sip into a caramely taste with just a hint of orange zest.

There's a very strong influence from the oak barrels in the finish with a mix of oak and wood taste and a long medicinal layer.

Really good stuff and will definitely purchase this again and in fact, already have. One of the scotches I think I will always have on hand in my collection. Excellent stuff.

Why don't you try some blending?

As stated in previous posts, people have this undue snobbery of the idea of single malts. A lot of this is based entirely on the idea that they've been told: that single malts are the way to go and that blends are somehow less. More often that not people hear and understand this before they've taken enough time to make a decision themselves.

A lot of blended scotches have been blended to provide people with a less expensive alternative to expensive single malts. They've evolved into that. In the past they may have been created this way to give the consumer a more balanced taste using younger and less expensive scotches. But I think now money is the main driving force and this has been done at the expense of taste, and also to appeal to a wider audience that isn't actually looking for much in their scotch experience. Your J & B Rare (don't get me started about the term 'rare') and your Grant's Family Reserve are basic and simple. Then you have your Johnnie Walker Black Label that makes a claim to be a higher end product, but falls short.

However, I think that people really need to get over the idea that single malt is better than a blend, no matter what. It's simply not true. Some single malts have a simple profile and they could definitely be improved by blending. But people seem to hold single malts to a different level, a level that shouldn't be tainted by the idea of blending. Maybe this think if they're going to spend $50 or more of a bottle of something, they shouldn't experiment with the presentation.

But here's an idea and it came about because the blends available in Canada often aren't that great: If you can't buy a good blend, why not do it yourself? I suggest that you do the blending! The idea when I first considered it, seemed crazy, 'who am I to be the person that blends?' I thought, I'm not trained in this and I have no skill. But you know what, after seeing a couple of videos on line and then just getting over my own resistance, I just did it, I blended a bunch of scotches I had and the result was actually really pleasant. Then I mixed again and I blended scotches with Ryes and bourbons and again the result was quite excellent. Would it win an award? Probably not, but I took some satisfaction in the fact that I had made that. I had thought about what to mix and my result was pretty good. I mixed again and I added too much of a really peaty scotch and I thought I should lower that next time. Yeah, I screwed up but I learned from the experience.

The first several times I mixed six or seven whiskys together, but tonight I just mixed 2. I got a budget 12 year old blended scotch and added a bit of my favourite, but less expensive single malts. The result was a better version of the blended scotch, which when I calculated the cost made it a much better tasting deal for my money. I'd almost be a fool not to do this in the future.

The recipe for this new invention of mine is 2 shots of Dewars 12 year old ($34.99 for a 750ml bottle) and 1/4 shot of Deanston virgin oak ($49.98 a 750 ml bottle). The beautiful and wonderful taste of Deanston comes out and dominates over the Dewars. True, it would be better to drink pure Deanston, but the cost of this mixture makes the mix pretty good for your wallet.

You can also mix some scotches and still come out with single malt. Mix some Glenfiddich 12 year old, which is kind of boring stuff, with Glenfiddich 15 year old, which is amazing, and you'll get single malt Glenfiddich that's pretty intriguing.

Lately I've been drinking some Black Grouse with a couple of drops of Ledaig 10 Year Old Whisky, a few drops of Lagavulin 16 Years Old, a few drops of Port Charlotte... and maybe one drop of Bowmore 12 Year Old. It's really quite good in my opinion. Nice and peaty and complex and easy on the wallet.

Give this mixing and blending a try. I'd like to hear your thoughts and suggestions.

Tobermory 10 year old Single Malt Scotch Whiskey

I'm sold on the idea of unchill-filtering (just not on how to spell it), and so when I'm shopping around for a new Scotch to try out, I'm immediately drawn to the ones that make this claim. The Tobermory 10 year old proudly displays this on the box along with its 46.3% alcohol by volume and I had a feeling, that since it looks like a craft brewed scotch, coming from the only distillery on the Island of Mull and has opted for a green bottle that there isn't any colour in it either. It does give this appearance, but there's no claim to this effect so its hard to be sure.

Tobermory starts off with a very pleasant sour peat smell.

I added too much water the first time and it really brought out the smell of apples, sweetness and chocolate. When you've got yourself a fine scotch, adding a little too much water once in a while is never really a bad thing. You get some more flavours and some more smells and you can savour them for a little longer. What else is in there? You can dig in and explore for a while. A little oak, a bit of barely, some fruit, a mixture of intriguing sweetness.

The palette is very sweet and smooth with light chocolaty taste.

The finish gives a good bang of very nice smooth buttery sweet caramel. There's a slight kick of ginger hotness that slides and morphs into the taste of almonds. Really quite delicious.

Being 10 years old this has a youthful taste that I think I'm really starting to enjoy. If you're like me, you've been told that older is better (either actually told told or implied told (and prices often reinforce the implied told idea) but I've had some really good 10 year old scotches that I think are really quite good because of the youthful elements in them. Ageing them changes them and adds quite a bit but it can also take away some stuff, and that kind of youthful rawness is really appealing (especially in peated scotches). It's starting to make me think that my ultimate blended mix (if I could make any blend I wanted, regardless of price) would probably have to be called 10 year old, because I'd want to include some ten year olds into the taste.

Will definitely pick up more Tobermory in the future (planning to always have some in stock, actually) and have already branched out and gotten hold of some Ledaig (their more peaty brand).

Robert Burns Blended Scotch Whisky

This was one that I avoided for a while. Nothing about it seemed right. It's named after Scottish Poet Robert Burns... to be honest, I'm not really a fan but am pretty ignorant of Robbie Burns. My parents are Scottish and so I know "Wee, sleekit, cow'rin, tim'rous beastie" but had to look it up to get it right and I only know that one line. That's pretty much as far as it goes.

Maybe I went into this biased.

This Scotch doesn't really do his apparent legend any service. The nose is pretty simple and all we get out of it is a new young malty scent. The palete continues in the simplicity with some general scotch sweetness, not quite caramel, but close. It's not rich or terribly flavourful. There's maybe some fruitiness in there, but faint. Some further sweetness in the finish, maybe a little oak. Quick and again simple.

Maybe this should be an introduction to scotch scotch. Maybe give this to someone to give them the basic idea of what scotch is, completely lacking anything else... then you proceed to let them expand their ideas of scotch with scotches that have more complexity, more taste and are just generally better.

Maybe I'd buy this again but probably not. It runs at $30.87 Canadian in Nova Scotia, which is a little more expensive than all the other low end scotches. It's 40% and comes in a European 700ml bottle (although I've seen on the internet that European versions of this are 43%). I'd rather get J&B or Famous Grouse because they're less expensive for more and probably better.

Jura 12 Year old Elixir

Jura is another brand I've been ignoring. The branding for Jura just doesn't sit well with me, it's trying to be too modern, too designed, and I just don't like the look they are going for.

But sometimes you can't let positive or negative branding influence you too much. I wanted try something new, and Jura's Elixir was at just the right price for the moment and I'd tried everything else at that particular liquor store had in that price range: $57.99. The box has some non-relevant and useless story about the waters of Jura being important to the crafting of the scotch (all scotch distilleries say that in some form or another), and nothing about chilfiltering or colour, so I guessed that they chilfiltered and added colour. After pouring a dram I think my original assumptions were correct and the added colour bit was confirmed by something written in Danish "farven justeret med karamel" and german "mit farbstoff (zucker couleur)" on the bottle. Strange that they don't write that in English anywhere. I suspect maybe Denmark and German have some laws about that.

This Single Malt Scotch comes in a European sized bottle (700ml) and is bottled at 46%. It was the only Jura at the liquor store with an age statement: 12 year old and it says it was finished in a combination of American Oak and Sherry Casks.

The nose starts off with a predominance of malt, but there are lots of other smells in there too. Swirling with the malt is a sort of salty air, or salted caramel smell. A very subtle floral hint comes in with maybe a little rose like fragrance. With some water comes out some burnt sugar and more of the fruity elements, especially plum and a nice waft of light chocolate.

The palate is sweet and a little spicy, with some more fruitiness, more plum and a nice smooth caramel sweetness mixed with milk chocolate.

At first the finish is very short almost non existent but after a few more sips it seems to come out a little more. There's cereal and the tiniest bit of oak, more fruit and spice.

There's nothing really bad about this Scotch but it's not very exciting. Some of the fruitiness and plum notes are interesting but is it enough to make it stand out particularly? It is the least expensive of the Jura line, although the next 'step ups' don't have age statements, so I probably won't be picking this up again and will probably avoid the other ones in the line for the time being.

Highland Park 10 Year old Single Malt Scotch Whisky

Lately I've been hearing more and more about Highland Park and this is entirely because I've been more interested in conversations about scotch, and by conversations I really just mean videos on the internet and some scattered articles here and there. No one I know personally talks about Highland Park or drinks Highland Park or even really knows anything about Highland Park. From what's been implied to me lately, however, it's a staple of Scottish Scotch drinking. Here in Canada, not so much. I think when I glanced over it at the liquor store a feeling about the name that was in the back of my mind influenced my opinion of this scotch: the combination of Highland and Park just didn't sit right with me. The name seems like the type of name that a crummy apartment complex would use in an failed attempt to seem classy: Highland Park Estates, or Highland Park Towers... both places sound like a good place to buy drugs but not a good place to live.

But maybe in Scotland Highland Park would be a nice place to live, to start a family or buy one of those big furry giant horned cows and live the Scotish dream... whatever the hell that is. Anyway, I decided to overcome my earlier prejudices and pick up a bottle of this well beloved Scotch.

Highland Park 10 Year Old Single Malt Whisky seemed like a reasonable introduction to me. As a side note it almost seems like Highland Park 10 Year Old isn't available many places, except Canada and perhaps Holland. Highland Park Distilleries don't even list it on their own website. But I could be wrong. This comes in a 750ml (North American market sized bottle) at 40% alc/vol and runs for $64.99 in Nova Scotia.

There's no mention of if they chilfilter or not and no mention of colour, so I'm assuming they chilfiler and add some colour.

The nose begins with a little peat and smoke mixed with a medicinal scent (the medicinal scent was stronger before we added water, it was more dominant in the overall smell but the adding of water lessened it's affects or perhaps just increase the other smells). There's sweetness and a very light fruitiness maybe with a hint of melon. Gentle and appealing, but not overly complex.

The palate begins with some spice (slight ginger feel) and some, what I shall say are earthy tastes (some mild peat and wood), mixed with a fading essence of smoke, and more medicinal flavours. This all vanishes quickly as the finish comes in with an increasing sweetness and finally a smooth butterscotch taste. A little bit of wood.

Overall a fine Scotch but nothing terribly exciting. However I probably won't be buying this again. But it was good enough to consider purchasing some of the older aged Highland Parks sometime in the future, but doing so won't be a priority.

Glenfarclas 21 year old

Glenfarclas 21 year old single malt is a Speyside single malt that is presented here at 43% alcohol. There's no mention or care to mention if it's chilfiltered or if there's any colour added. This is an old traditional scotch and I guess they don't feel they need to get involved in the latest descriptive trends. They probably should, however. This is important information. It gets a little bit of Scottish mist once you add water and has a light golden colour to it, so perhaps it isn't chilfiltered and perhaps there isn't colour added, but they haven't said it outright, so it's hard to pin it down.

This scotch is very sweet and candy like. The nose begins with some very fruity (apples and pears) scents mixed with a rich malty feel, orange zest or perhaps even candied orange merge with something that's not quite toffee, not quite caramel and not quite chocolate fudge. Perhaps just a beautiful combination of all three?

The palate has something that reminds us a little of cinnamon hearts, sort of sweet but with a slight hot tingle, and a very light touch of oak.

The sweetness remains in the finish with a strong chocolately fudge flavour that comes in slowly and smoothly building slightly in a delicious sort of way. Afterwards there's a lingering dried woody taste that is subtle and not overbearing.

Glenfarclas 21 year old seems to be a pretty good scotch, but maybe we're just not ready for some  of the subtleties in it. It's good and we don't have anything bad to say about it, but it doesn't stand out as being particularly excellent in any way. We're pretty pleased to have had a chance to taste it but will probably explore some other scotches rather than picking this up again.