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.