Benromach 2006 Peat Smoke / Bot.2016

I'm a big fan of Benromach! I adore the 15, the 10/100 is (was) a tour de force and the 10 is, in my humble opinion, possibly the best value ten year old currently available. I've always liked how the peat is integrated into the style so I've been keen to see how it holds up to an eye-brow raising 62ppm. It's also from 100% first fill ex-bourbon barrels. What could go wrong?

Review is from a 20ml pour with a drop of water. Bottles been open a good few weeks now with about 4/5's remaining.

Nose – barley sugars, creamy vanilla, smoke, apples and pears. Touch of pine resin and sage with some fresh ginger and a waft of leather.

Taste – A Sour arrival that reveals barley sugars again, charred oak, smoked green apples and sushi ginger. Oily.

Finish – Quite long with some charred, smoky vanilla and more apple, turning quite dry with some black tea at the end.

Gotta be honest, I'm not quite sure what to make of this whisky. It's well-made, as you'd expect, has a great oily mouthfeel and is perfectly fine to sip away at but it just isn't grabbing me. I've tried it mixed with varying levels of sherried whiskys and I think I prefer it like that. Make no mistake, this is good whisky and makes a nice change to Islay peat but, and this is the thing, if I want a full on peaty whisky Islay is generally where it's at for me. I think I also preferred the Longrow peated I had last year, which has definite similarities.

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