June 26, 2015

A wee bunch of old Ben Nevis

Ah, old Ben Nevis… (yeah, like, that was some VERY useful comments, S.!)

Ben Nevis 22 yo 1990 (60.4%, Jack Wiebers, cask #0218, 120 bottles)

Not that old, but very big! Let’s see if we can find dead mice ;-)… Colour: amber. Nose: chocolate, chocolate, chocolate, and café latte straight from Starbucks’. In the background, a little sweet game (with cranberry jam) and quite some tobacco, plus whiffs of pencil shavings. Nothing to complain about so far. With water: a lovely gamy style! Smoked ham, ham coated with honey sauce, prunes, then whiffs of gunflints, pipe tobacco, walnut wine… So a typical sherry monster indeed. Mouth (neat): thick and full of jams, especially cherry and marmalade, plus something like rose jelly – or Turkish delights – and Moroccan pastries. That would include quite a lot of orange blossom water, I imagine. Oak spices (ginger, nutmeg, cinnamon). With water: gets dry, but I also find lovely touches of blood oranges. Oak extracts, walnut stain (don’t drink), tobacco, dried parsley… The whole’s a little oxidative, in a good way. Finish: long, rather more on herbs, mint, more parsley, beef bouillon… Dry aftertaste. Comments: some gamy, tobacco-like sherry. Not an easy style, but it’s very, very fine if you like this style. SGP:361 - 84 points.

Ben Nevis 32 yo 1972/2004 (47.6%, OB for LMDW, hogshead, cask #600, 116 bottles)

Colour: deep amber. Nose: it’s one of these pretty ‘extravagant’ Ben Nevisses, with rose petals aplenty and a curious feeling of rhum agricole. Cointreau, litchi liqueur, juicy raisins, liquorice allsorts, prunes, fig cake, then a wee mineral side (chalk)… I often call this style ‘very old Sauternes’. You know, when they get blackish. You’ve even got the coffee from botrytis. Mouth: really excellent. Some mineral oak (I know) plus many dried fruits, liqueurs and candy-like touches. Old arrak, sultanas, pipe tobacco, bananas flambéed, ham, dried apricots, then a feeling of old bourbon (I remember some old Willets, for example), a touch of fruity rubber – should that exists – and then more chalky/mineral notes again. The whole’s very complex, for sure, it even loses you at times. Finish: liquorice everywhere, coffee and Cointreau in the aftertaste. Comments: a sherry hogshead, I imagine. Big yet complex stuff, perhaps a little leathery/rubbery at times? SGP:462 - 87 points.

Ben Nevis 43 yo 1970/2014 (44.7%, Berry Bros & Rudd, single blend, cask #3)

That’s right, a single blend. That means that both the malt and the grain were distilled at Ben Nevis, thanks to a Coffey still that owner Crazy Joseph Hobbs had added in the 1950s, like he did at Lochside. I suppose this baby was blended at birth, so prior to filling the cask. We won’t argue about the all-important question, ‘can a different set of stills bear the same distillery name?’ (pfff, seriously, S., who cares!) Colour: gold. Nose: wee whiffs of nail polish remover at very first sniffs, then a soft, complex and magnificently almondy fruity combination. Maraschino, stewed rhubarb, ripe kiwis and blood oranges. Makes it! Behind that, a delicate, blond-tobacco-like oakiness. Mouth: it’s funny to find some youthful grain in this, plus a feeling of Malibu (coconut) and orange cake. It seems that there’s more grain than malt, but I’m not sure. Caramelised beer, mead, honey, perhaps a little turnip purée (yeah really)… It’s really unusual, and very interesting. Finish: good length. A little beery, I’d say. A lot of green tea in the aftertaste. Comments: a blend that needed no Master Blender, that gives us a break ;-). I’m not a total fan, but this is an historical bottling, so, respect! SGP:451 - 80 points.

(and thank you Marlène and Jonny)

Check the index of all Ben Nevis I've tasted so far