Reviewed by @markjedi1

1 083/100

Benriach 12 Year Old Arumaticus Fumosus - Peated Dark Rum Cask

BenRiach has experimented with peaty spirit and then – giving the result some silly name – bottled it. This Arumaticus Fumosus is one of them, from 2012. It is peated spirit from this normally sweet Speysider, finished on dark rum casks from Jamaica. It used to sell for around 40 EUR, but nowadays has become a bit hard to find. It certainly works on the nose. The peat is the undeniable leading aroma (with loads of ashes, wet wool and smoke), but is soon joined by some nice rummy notes (or is that the spirit?). Think candy sugar, caramel, but also autumn leaves and roots. Fine, complex nose. Nice arrival, good body. Very clean as well. Lightly drying on sweet peat, leaves and roots with some ginger and white pepper in the background. The oak has something to say as well. A light bitterness. But the sweetness of the rum is a bit late to the party on the palate. Some sweetness returns in the medium long finish, but the smoke is dominant. A fine nose, but it lacked some sweetness on the palate. This might just as well have been a nice Islay whisky. Thanks, Pat!

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Reviewed by @hunggar

0 292/100

I may sound like a broken record here, but I like Benriach. Quirky names, colourful bottles, and they seem to give any distillation or maturation technique a go. Triple distillation here, some peat in there, and an obscure finish on that. Of course, being so carefree wouldn’t matter if they didn’t know what they were doing, but they do. They make good stuff. This 12 year old, Latin-themed, peated, rum-finished whisky with a purple label is an example of them at their eccentric best.

Nose: Clean and fresh, with big cereal notes. Rich barley, lemon lozenges, big peat, heather, honey, pear, and ginger. If you’ve lived in or been to a tropical country before, you might know the smell of a sugar cane field being burned before harvesting. That smell is here, too.

Palate: Good, medium-thick mouthfeel. Arrives on peat. A big, robust, clean peat, sans the maritime flavours we get from Islay. Strong barley, honey, pear, ginger ale, cereal, earth, heather, lemon lozenges.

Finish: Light honey, lemon lozenges, aloe, faint spearmint, barley, cereal, minerals, pear, ginger ale, popcorn, and burnt sugar cane. Long and crisp.

Thoughts: This is my kind of whisky. It’s not flashy or strikingly complex, but the core flavours have great depth and intensity. Juicy barley, heather, sweet peat, honey, and cereal cooperate beautifully, and remain consistent throughout. The barley and heather are especially wonderful. Can I say meadow-y? Also, the rum finish gives the sweetness added dimension, all the while working in that lovely burnt sugar cane note. Don’t expect a typical Speyside or Islay profile here. Don’t even expect a typical Benriach profile, this one stands alone. What you can expect is a fresh, savory, and delicious whisky. I should also mention how affordable this is. Really cool stuff, extremely recommended.

@Pierre_W commented:

Hi @hunggar, many thanks for a great review. I put this one onto my shopping list right away! I am not too much into BenRiach (yet) but I might be getting there in due time. I really like the regular 16yo as well as the 17yo Septendecim, and of course the management team is legendary within the industry. Cheers!

@hunggar commented:

@Pierre_W, I'm a big fan. Who else has such an adventurous portfolio? Of course there are some pretty clear winners and losers in their range, but at least they've got the balls to be different and, dare I say, more interesting than "traditional" distilleries. This one in particular surprised me. Expectations weren't too high, as this gets some pretty mixed reviews. I think it's fantastic, hopefully you will too!

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Reviewed by @jackjajack

0 095/100

This Arumaticus 12yo is my first peated bottle, it has heavy peat nose. Once night I drunk and put the glass near my bed, there has a beautiful peated in my bedroom when I wake up in the morning. Then I fall in love with Peated Scotch. And just now that I know a news, this part of release of just 1,240 bottles. What a pity that I drunk so quickly.

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