Curious Ash 10 Year Old 1st Fill Port Barrique #3345 (70cl, 57.2%)

A Speyside single malt distilled on 31 March 2015 and matured for ten years in first-fill Port barrique 3345. It was bottled on 6 August 2025 at 57.2% cask strength, without chill filtration or colouring, and 280 bottles came from the cask. The bottling is from the Best Dram series by Michel Reick; the distillery remains unnamed. The whisky is strongly peated, with a sweet, creamy Port fruit set against a powerful peaty and ashy base. On the nose there is strong peat smoke, red berry cream, whipped cream, ripe red fruits, spice and a hint of oak. The palate is dense and powerful, with meaty peat and smoke, creamy dark Port fruit, berry compote, dried fruit and milk chocolate, balanced by spice and fine tannins. The finish is long and warming, with maritime air growing as the fruit sweetness slowly recedes.