This undisclosed peated BenRiach was released at the same time as the Smögen from recently, but without the 91 point score at Whiskyfun, and therefore less fanfare to go with it. As a result of that, this one is actually still for sale in Germany, Denmark and Austria.

Officially this is not a BenRiach, of course, but it surprisingly is a single malt. So no tea-spooning things happening here. The fact that it is from Speyside and it is peated doesn’t unequivocally tell us it is BenRiach, but there are few other options, and even less after tasting it. So let’s do exactly that!

Sniff:
The peat is pretty distinguishable, but there still is a lot of barley coming forward. Apple, pineapple, orange. Quite a bit of fruit, even though the barley stays front and center.

Sip:
The palate is dry, with biting, peppery peat, and dry barley. Pineapple skin, apple seeds, some oak and slightly salty smoke.

Swallow:
The finish has ash, soot, a fireplace with wood smoke. Also earthy peat and some heather. Less fruity than the palate.

This is a far better whisky than you’d normally expect from a ‘random’ 13 year old Speyside dram. There are lots of fruity notes, which really help. The peat seems well integrated with the other flavors and the distillery character is still noticeable. A recommended whisky, again. But which Wu Dram Clan whisky isn’t…

88/100

Available through various retailers starting at € 108

Also, matching the label to the distillery helps to figure out where this one comes from…