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| Hi, this is one of our (almost) daily tastings. Santé! |
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May 13, 2021 |
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Isn't Ben Nevis addictive?
(More of it for Colin Ross!) |
I think I've heard you moaning. Indeed I agree we couldn't have left that little tribute to Colin Ross without having had at least one or two older Ben Nevisses. It's true that we've had mostly new or very recent ones since Monday, which was probably not very 'Whiskyfun'. So let's proceed with one of the lightest, which is also, incidentally, probably the oldest Ben Nevis to date! |
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Ben Nevis 51 yo 1966/2017 (41.5%, OB for La Maison du Whisky, hogshead, cask #4278, 120 bottles) 
Amazing, incredible, flabbergasting… Good, the tone has been set (I've tried this one before but never wrote any proper tasting note). Colour: amber. Nose: don't you love it when very old spirits converge? Frankly this could as well be (a great) rum or (a great) cognac. Time erases differences and brings the best to light, provided the wood knew how to behave. Which is obviously the case here. Stunning 'beehive-y' notes at first, then sublime camphory ones, then many earths, many herbs, and both a little umami and a little osmazome. So this wonderful, ever-subtle meatiness that does not really display any proper notes of meat. See what I mean? There are myriads of other aromas but you'd rather call the Anti-Maltoporn Brigade NOW… Mouth: starts with tiny fruits and the jams and liqueurs made thereof. Which is pretty unusual in a 50 yo whisky! Such as wild strawberries, white currants, probably a little cassis… Very impressive. Quite some resin too, which is not unheard of in old spirits (actually it was in the nose too), then tobaccos and various oils and waxes. Beeswax is very prominent, as it was on the nose. Some sappy honeys, old chardonnays of Montrachet-quality, a little gum Arabic… Oh and peaches, nectarines, apricots, and even a touch of salt. Good, I think I hear the Anti-Maltoporn Brigade in the yard… Quick… Finish: not eternal but fresh, not woody although rather resinous indeed, with an unexpected freshness in the aftertaste. Beeswax and a curious feeling of very old bourbon. Really! Old spirits do converge indeed… Comments: I would have liked to share this one with Colin Ross. Actually, maybe I did while at Whisky Live Paris back when it came out, but I am not sure it was this one. Let's officially state it was.
SGP:551 - 93 points. |
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Ben Nevis 30 yo 1975/2006 (63.9%, Signatory Vintage, bourbon barrel, cask #7445, 169 bottles) 
I'm sorry but isn't there a typo here? 63.9% at 30 years? Have they stored this one in Guyana or Kentucky? Now a lazy sister cask, #7447, had even been bottled at 64.3% by SigV (WF 82 back in 2006). Colour: straw. Nose: feels strong and young. Eaux-de-vie and young calvados or something like that. Let's not push our luck… With water: little sugar eggs and Havana Club, English breakfast tea, banana cream… Well I wouldn't say there's much Ben-Nevisness in this one, this is almost a lightish middle-aged Speysider on the nose. Mouth (neat): … while we tremble… Right its very sweet and almost sugary, with some bubblegum here and there and a fattish oiliness. A little lemon curd. With water: rather a little better, with more green tea and less straight sugary fruitiness, but it really is a very light, almost thin Ben Nevis in my opinion, although it would tend to improve with breathing. Finish: medium, sweet. This feeling of young calvados once again. A little coconut wine in the aftertaste, I suppose that's the barrel. Comments: I'm having trouble with these ones, must be me as some friends rather love the parcel. I suppose one cannot change his own nature. That 1991 by SigV over this one, anytime!
SGP:531 - 82 points. |
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Ben Nevis 23 yo 1997/2021 (55%, WhiskySponge, Edition 22C, refill sherry hogshead, 203 bottles)
A fabulous label sporting 'God' as… Colin Ross! Or the other way 'round. You could even read his name on God's cap. See how 'cult' Mr Ross had become amongst us whiskyrattis? Colour: white wine. Nose: it's a lovely sour one, on gooseberries and morello cherries, bone-dry chenin, leaven and gueuze, chalk and wool, fresh rhubarb… It's all there, we may go on… With water: cut grass, more rhubarb, green lemons (not limes) and some kind of sooky apples, should that exist. A path of light. Mouth (neat): perfection and moderate Irishness. Passion fruits, lemons, chalk, drop of fruity olive oil, scones, pink bananas, grapefruits… Well careful, this one goes down faster than Franz Klammer (apologies to younger generations) as it's very clean and fruity. With water: pristine, indisputable, ultra-clean high-precision fruity Ben Nevis. Finish: medium, very fruity, close to indie Bushmills once again. Comments: you could argue that there was nothing dirty/sooty at all in this one. Correct, but this fruitier style too does wonders in my book.
SGP:651 - 90 points. |
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Let's rummage in the boxes… |
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Ben Nevis 15 yo 1998/2014 (57.7%, Acorn, hogshead, cask #1352, 177 bottles) 
I believe these ones are usually for Japan but you could find them in, for example, Switzerland. Colour: white wine. Nose: a rather hotter style, moe eau-de-vie-ish, but that's probably the younger age. Gooseberries, pancakes, perhaps roasted pine nuts, then grist and toasted brioche… No quibbling whatsoever. With water: fresh wholegrain bread, grist, soot, sesame oil and pistachios. Fresh croissants. Mouth (neat): very good, starting with a little varnish and even a feeling of acetone, then limoncello over soot and ashes. White cherries, kirsch, almonds. With water: excellent, tart, nervous, vibrant, on lemons, limes and grapefruits. It actually got a little narrower after reduction's occurred, but no problems,; what it does it does well. Excellent. Finish: medium, lemony, on a chalky ground and with an ashier, grittier aftertaste. Comments: typical youngish Ben Nevis of the highest quality. Once again, I'm a fan.
SGP:551 - 89 points. |
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Ben Nevis 19 yo 1997/2017 (52.3%, S-Spirit Shop Selection, Taiwan, hogshead, cask #603, 300 bottles) 
Colour: white wine. Nose: it's rather an austere one, rather on grasses and oils, then dough, leaven, chalk and grist. Classic and most pleasant, given that some wee coastal notes are making it to your nostrils as well after thirty seconds. Whelks, shall we say. With water: bread, lemon, chalk, flour, wool, a galopin of gueuze. Mouth (neat): excellent. Tart and green, bold, with a drop of raw kirschwasser, then lemons and grapefruits, more chalk, more soot, more fresh almonds. Just a wee tad rustic this far but hey, it is not even 20. With water: absolutely lovely, it's just that it got a little too young and fruity once reduced. We've known fresh mirabelle eau-de-vie… (no one's interested in your private life, S.) Finish: medium, fruity. Fresh fruitcake, cassata, these wee bananas… Comments: no really, it's excellent, just still a wee-tad youngish here and there, in my humble opinion. The Sponge's '97 was 'higher' but it's true that it was also four years older. Very good stuff nonetheless.
SGP:552 - 86 points. |
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Ben Nevis 20 yo 1996/2017 (53.1%, The Single Malts of Scotland, sherry butt, cask #1528, 466 bottles)
Why this one had slipped through my paws, I couldn't tell you. Maybe because it was a sherry butt? Colour: full gold. Nose: rather gentle and cake-y at first, with some walnut wine and only a touch of curry, some wood smoke, some Maggi, tar liqueur, pinewood ashes… This is all most intriguing. With water: hey, peat! This baby never stopped gaining speed and power. Beach bonfire, dried kelp… Boy did it evolve! Mouth (neat): raw and smoky indeed, with a sourness (cherries), some kind of smoked wine (don't say that doesn't exist!) and probably some eucalyptus and menthol. Really very different and really pretty peaty, in fact. With water: very good but I'm lost. What is this? Is this Ben Nevis indeed? Finish: long, peaty, peppery, very ashy. Comments: who the hell did rebadge a cask of Talisker while no one was watching? Do not let tourists in!
SGP:465 - 89 points. |
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Ben Nevis 19 yo 1997/2017 (57.5%, Blackadder, Raw Cask, for Taiwan, 1st fill sherry, cask #69, 266 bottles)
As it appears, some of these had been bottled for the USA too, but I'm all for world peace. Love Blackadder anyway, hope some newer ones will find their way to Château Whiskyfun. Now it's true that I'm very slow… Colour: golden amber. Nose: oh smoked cakes, Danishes, metal polish, brake pads 'after the Nürburgring', old walnuts, tobacco… In truth this is very close to some official small batches of OBs. The sherried ones, obviously. With water: moist garden peat and Bulldog sauce, umami sauce, stuff for sushi… Yeah even wasabi. Mouth (neat): big boy, on hectolitres of walnut wine, the driest olorosos, and just soot and coal. Then coffee and cigars. With water: orgasmic oloroso. But you really have to like them mustardy and full of last-century walnuts. Finish: very long and more medicinal, ala deeply sherried Laphroaig. Comments: never has the name 'Raw Cask' been more deservedly earned, I would say. I would say twelve people in the whole world love this rather extreme kind. Who are the other eleven?
SGP:273 - 90 points. |
It is, indeed, getting a little tough. Ish. But more sherry's demanded… |
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Ben Nevis 21 yo 1995/2017 (52.7%, Wilson & Morgan, Barrel Selection, sherry wood, cask #656, 314 bottles)
Hey good pick, how are you doing, Wilson & Morgan? I'm really glad they're not bottling only barrels within their 'Barrel Selection' range. Colour: amber. Nose: there's this rather typical, but not always observed metallic side to this one, old copper tones, strawberry jam and walnut cake, then rather some kind of caramelised marmalade and really a full bag of raisins, bot fresh, full-dried, and roasted. With water: little changes. Perhaps more chalk? More wool? Mouth (neat): extremely, and I mean extremely good. Extremely old-school, and even kind of a blend of Ardbeg with Macallan -who's never tried that? Very leafy and leathery too, that's the harder side of it. With water: no, we're fine. Good smoked honeyed and raisiny cake, with a growing smokiness and even ashes. Finish: long, salty, tobacco-y, raisiny. It's been done goodly, as they used to say at the White House. Only the aftertaste would be a little green and tannic. Comments: very good, but it's to be wondered if oloroso and Ben Nevis do not generate peat when married together. Molecules gone wild, perhaps? We should ask a Nobel Prize in Chemistry, such as Donald J.. Nah, love this rather adventurous malt.
SGP:463 - 88 points. |
What have we still got?... Eenie meenie… |
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Ben Nevis 17 yo 1999/2017 (55.3%, Blackadder, Raw Cask, for Taiwan, hogshead, 207 bottles)
Hey, more Blackadder, which makes better sense than a tomato fitted with wheels! (I'm bad at quoting the series, really). Colour: gold. Nose: lovely. It's a crystal-clear, pretty smoky, rather mineral and really very doughy Ben Nevis, with grist, flour, fresh bread, carbon paper, and just bone-dry white beer. This one's authentic – not saying he others were not. With water: touches of ripe apples and pineapples popping out, that's funny. I was expecting even more minerality, but I am not complaining. To whom would I file a complaint anyway? To the SWA? Mouth (neat): how good is this? Excellent, barley-driven, sourish and lemony arrival, only getting tenser over time. Grapefruit liqueur and chalk. One day someone will have to try to make inorganic liqueurs, but that's another story… With water: pretty perfecto. Top notch mineral distillate, knowing that minerality is saving wine, and will save whisky as well sooner or later. Yeah I know, distillation… Finish: long, kind of clean, chalky, almost perfect. Comments: bam! Another rather excellent one, it's just not hugely complex yet.
SGP:452 - 86 points. |
Let's have a last, a very last Ben Nevis, until, at least, say July 1st. Or we'll have gone rather too far… Let's choose another OB at random, eenie… Oh, no, it's a beast!... |
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Ben Nevis 25 yo 1991/2017 (61.3%, OB, oloroso sherry butt, cask #3711, 584 bottles)
We'll do this one quick, if you don't mind. Colour: gold. Nose: oh lovely, stock and salty bouillons, glue (UHU), cured ham, chalk and tobacco… But indeed it is strong. With water: lovely acetic notes, more fine glues and varnishes, roots and earths, all things that sound bad yet nose lovely. Superb structure, not a much talked-about concept in whisky but I say that's got to change! Mouth (neat): I think this is perfect. Menthol and lemon curd, chalk, ginger and turmeric, green spices… Now it is really too strong and just wouldn't unleash its full potential yet. Well, theoretically… With H2O: vanquishes you, as they say at Aston Martin's. In truth it would rather get softer, but these bitter tones just work. Grasses, teas, even vegetables (artichokes) and a feeling of ashes and coal. This is truly Ben Nevis, pretty uncompromising and just uncommercial. F**k commerce, we're in it for arts and culture, we are not vandals! Finish: long. Mandarins and bitters, forgot to mention mandarins and bitters. Salty and peaty aftertaste. Comments: glorious. I'm glad we're putting an end to this madness with this very glorious and panache-y official Ben Nevis made by Mr Colin Ross. Cellar this and see you around 2030. Utter star, guaranteed.
SGP:553 - 91 points. |
That's 32 Ben Nevisses since Monday. Not bad. Frankly, we could go on with many more, what a stunning, fat, versatile and corpulent distillate! All that thanks to Colin Ross. Pace e salute to your lovely, most honest soul! |
(Thanks to KC, Lucero, Tim) |
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