BenRiach Albariza Peated 18 Year

A faint jammy peat, port, and a touch of blue cheese on the nose. The palate is truly delightful. Honestly, I view Benriach as Glendronach's less capable younger sibling. It often aims for excellence but seldom achieves it, possessing a thinner spirit lacking Glendronach's rich viscosity. However, I continue to sample them, intrigued by the distillery's varied cask and production combinations. (I'm next considering a Tokaji cask finish, which required a quick search to identify its origin as Hungarian wine). This expression ranks among the highest I've scored for this distillery. Returning to the spirit itself, I appreciate well-executed sherry cask maturation and peated spirits, and this combination is perfect. I typically let a dram sit after the first taste, often savoring it over an hour, but this is so good I keep returning for more. In addition to the aromas, flavors of rum raisin, sweet prunes, toffee, cherry, fig, wood, leather, and more emerge. This warrants at least a 4.5, maybe even an exceptionally rare 4.75, given the flawless balance. The finish is slow and warming. I rate this above the Lagavulin Distiller's Edition, which, after two tastings and finishing a bottle, did not impress me. To another user who has the 22-year-old: I hope the additional four years do not over-mature it and introduce wood bitterness, as this has none. Please share your experience with the 22-year-old. If it proves as outstanding as another user and I found the 18-year-old, I will break my current multi-month streak of not buying rare bottles and acquire one (the 18-year-old is unfortunately sold out). I consider this my top Benriach, on par with the 1977 38-year-old port cask I sampled, perhaps even superior.

My immediate thought was to compare this to a certain distillery's Distillers Edition, which is aged for approximately 17 years, including a final year in sherry casks, and is bottled at a similar ABV. Compared to that incredible whisky, this 18 falls slightly short, but that's no discredit to it. The nose is first-rate, with scents of fruit and berry jam, including raspberries, cranberries, and grape. The intense fruitiness and richness comes from the PX casks, and is expressed here more strongly than in the aforementioned whisky. The peat is faint on the nose, and not particularly smoky. I could taste this scotch all day, as those jam notes combine with a warming, smoky peat. That smoke is rare in peated Highland single malts, particularly given the lengthy aging, so this whisky must have been heavily peated at the outset. The finish is more in the classic sherried scotch mold of another well-known expression, but with more balance from the spice and slightly bitter, savory flavors characteristic of a peated whisky. At $125 or so, it was not cheap when it was available, but this may be one of the best examples of the peated Highland/Speyside style that I've tried. I had a certain anniversary bottling on the same day and, to be honest, this scotch blew that one out of the water.

Excellent dram. Smooth, vanilla, balanced peat. Just a slight heat/burn on the finish. I wish I had a bottle.