BenRiach The Smokey Ten Single Malt Scotch Whisky 750ml

BenRiach The Smokey Ten is proof that peat is not the exclusive property of Islay. BenRiach is one of the rare Speyside distilleries with a genuine peated tradition, firing its kilns with Highland peat during a dedicated smoky production window each year. Where island malts lean medicinal and briny, this is inland smoke: earthy, heathery, and wrapped around fruit rather than fighting it.

The recipe is a deliberate balancing act. The Smokey Ten is crafted from a combination of peated and unpeated spirit, letting the distillery dial in bonfire character while keeping its trademark orchard-and-tropical fruitiness front and center. The result reads as a Speyside malt that happens to smolder, not a smoke bomb with fruit lost underneath.

The wood program is even more adventurous than its unpeated sibling's. For a minimum of ten years the whisky matures in bourbon barrels, Jamaican rum casks, and toasted virgin oak, an unconventional trio that stitches molasses sweetness and charred spice into the smoke. Bottled at a punchier 46% ABV, it keeps every layer vivid in the glass.

Expect aromas of smoked oak and ripe pineapple, a palate of baked apple, rum-cask sugar, and warm embers, and a lingering finish of fruit and smoked oak. Try it neat, then with a splash of water to watch the rum sweetness bloom.

• Size: 750ml
• Proof: 92 (46% ABV)
• Age: 10 years
• Origin: Speyside, Scotland
• Distillery: BenRiach Distillery
• Style: Peated single malt Scotch whisky
• Composition: Peated and unpeated malted barley
• Cask/Aging: Three-cask matured 10+ years in bourbon barrels, Jamaican rum casks and toasted virgin oak
• Tasting Notes: Smoked oak, ripe pineapple, baked apple, rum sweetness, lingering fruit and smoke