Benriach 12 Year Old Heredotus Fumosus Pedro Ximinez Peated

Bought and opened 5/18/2013. I tasted this along side the old Benriach 10yo from the previous owners (late 90’s bottle) and the Curiositas. This came out as my least favorite of the night.

Nose: Strong wine notes on the front of the nose followed by some peat and smoke. The most smoky nose of the night by far with plenty of peat. Now the smoke really comes to the forefront with tons of sweet notes attached. Feel like smoked candies: smoked dark chocolate covered cherries. This is a dark fruit meets smoke in a dark alley . . . and they fumble around for a bit.

Taste: Sweetest on the mouth: very sugary. Now chocolate covered cherries . . . very silky in the mouth . . . but a hint of an edge of peat. Where the Curiositas was all sour lemons this is all sweet candies and coco.

Finish: Biggest blast of the night. Huge peat blast . . . leaves the mouth a bit decimated actually. It is candied peat and smoke and leaves mostly fire, wood, smoke, coco covered peat, candied cherries, and other candied fruits.

Complexity, Balance: Not overly complex on the nose and the balance of the peat, smoke, and sour seem a bit off. The Nose was the most congested bit of the night. = 3

Aesthetic experience: Not sure what to think about this bottle. I don’t like much: gray label lined with purple? I don’t think so. The Latin name? Seems mostly useless. But I like the 46% . . .

Conclusion: I like BenRiach a great deal. I don’t love this bottle. I picked it up on sale so I can’t complain too much. I won’t be replacing it when it is gone.

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