Another post to catch up on the one left missing. Unfortunately, I didn’t taste this one before I spotted what it was on our little forum at www.levenswater.nl.

I only tasted the Authenticus years ago after seeing it in The Whisky Bible by Mr. Sulphur. Back then, I didn’t know squat about whisky and his book was available. I took his 95 points as a guideline but upon tasting this dram I was heavily let down.

I didn’t do tasting notes back then, but I remember describing this as ‘the water you pour off string beans after cooking them in it’. That’s not good, right?

BenRiach Authenticus

Sniff:
A combination of heavy and light scents together. The smoke feels a bit greasy with a touch of sulphur. The vegetable kind (95 points from Mr. Murray, remember!) in this case. Plants, oak, peat and grass.

Sip:
It’s not overly spicy but had some peppery notes in it. Not much flavour to those, but the heat, so I’m going with white pepper. The oaky notes make this one a tad bitter. Some smoke too, but that’s about it.

Swallow:
Smoke and grass in a rather Ardbeg way. It has some creamy sweetness with a bitter after note.

Of course I didn’t get any points, since I didn’t put in my guess. I’m not sure if this would have crossed my mind since I am one of the few people around that don’t like this dram, and have never bought it.

BenRiach 21 Authenticus, 46%, € 160 at Gall & Gall Hoogland