A few weeks ago The Benriach had announced they are making a few changes to their peated whisky range, and although their production of peated malts is only 12 weeks per year, I do like their peated line very much, and I am not alone, they are very popular, and show another facet of speyside whisky making which involves heavy peat.
The Authenticus was part of this range, this is no news, but until now it has been released as a 21yo expression , and starting end of march it is replaced by an older 25 year old expression. I’ve tasted the 21 yea old quite a while back (review here), and was looking fwd to trying this one, and see how the age change, changed the profile. In addition to this change the “Birnie Moss” NAS peated young malt has been added to this lineup and its bottle was changed in accordance with the rest. I will discuss that one on the next post. So let’s start dramming
The BenRiach ‘Authenticus’ 25 year old , 46% 
Nose: Starting very spiced :pepper, Cinnamon and a lot of peppermint gum, sweet peat, leather, moist wood. an interesting mélange of aromas.
Palate: Peppery, spicy cinnamon (That bubblegum I remember from childhood) , earthy peat with spices, anise and Italian spice (Oregano,Basil,Marjoram) . Smoky and sweet. Good body at 46%. It’s like a well roasted chicken breast over coal fire in sweet marinade and Italian spices.
Finish : a whiff of smoke and herbs.
This one differes from the older version in being less sweet , with more herbal feel to it, quite drinkable, and rewarding.