
February 22, 2022

Ben Nevis, second flight, still too high

The main problem with Ben Nevis, in my opinion, is that you cannot have enough of them. Hence, in truth and by law, I believe the bottlers should be obliged to add a specific warning to the labels. Right, or at least to the back labels. You got it, we needed more and we had more…

Ben Nevis 22 yo 1999/2021 (46.5%, Liquid Pleasures and Nanyang Whisky Singapore, hogshead, cask #307)

Colour: white wine. Nose: bam, we're immediately sent to Sanlucar de Barrameda, with that magical combo that involves fresh walnuts, mustard and seawater. Incredible. In the middle distance, rather the usual chalk, porridge and light vanilla. And then farer in the background, paraffin, ashes, soot and lemons. No-thing-to-add. Mouth: feels bigger and tighter than just 46%. Ashes and chalk in the front this time, then white pepper and lemon zests, then, indeed, a blend of a perfect manzanilla and a very good vin jaune. Mustard, walnuts, salt, etcetera. Finish: long and superbly dry. More chalk, licking limestone, green lemons… Comments: you could almost call this wonderful one Benzanilla. Indeed, no shame at all.
SGP:362 - 90 points.

Ben Nevis 25 yo 1996/2021 (49%, Fadandel, refill sherry butt, cask #447, 470 bottles)

Alert, this one's pretty dark. No manzanilla this time, I would suppose… Colour: dark amber. Nose: chestnuts roasted in the fireplace and cigar ashes at first, then lots of flints and partly burnt bits of charcoal. Chocolate and paraffin kicking in then, garden peat, robusta coffee (very chocolaty), then west-coast amontillado. Partly manzanilla, partly oloroso. Remember, an appellation such as manzanilla does not refer to where the grapes are grown, rather to where the wine matures. It's like if you would mature Glenkinchie on Islay and then call it 'Islay whisky'. More or less… With water: pure old-school Ben Nevis, meaty and almost a little sulphury. Mouth (neat): we're close to some ancient OBs. Loads of tobacco, plasticine, chocolate, salty charcuterie, ashes, old walnuts and tabasco. With water: superb. Medicinal lemon and myrtle liqueurs, salty bouillon, chocolate (mole), bitter coffee and spices, marmalade. Finish: long, really bitter, in a lovely way. Holly eau-de-vie, ristretto and salty ashes. Very bitter aftertaste, you like or you don't. Comments: I do, it makes me think of some old rusty machinery.
SGP:363 - 90 points.

We keep flying too high!

Ben Nevis 18 yo 1996/2015 (51.8%, Chapter 7, bourbon hogshead, cask #2/(19/14), 272 bottles)

An older bottling, probably long gone. I mean, not available anymore. Colour: light gold. Nose (neat): salty and briny, with a lot of thyme and eucalyptus essence, camphor, ripe bananas, IPA and cedar wood. This one was much gentler. With water: more towards paraffin, raw wool, limestone and just a few sultanas. Unexpected sultanas. Mouth: smoked tea, roasted nuts, pipe tobacco and roasted pine nuts. absolutely excellent. Terrific echoes of smoked citrus, lime tea, more thyme essence (rather tea), beer with a little mint (they make that in the Alps), the usual walnuts, a touch of violet liqueur, genepy and verbena… With water: ashes coming to the front. Finish: long, saltier, with even more ashes, lemon, and bone-dry sauvignon blanc. Comments: probably a little gentler. What's so wrong with gentleness these days?
SGP:452 - 89 points.

Ben Nevis 23 yo 1996/2020 (47.6%, The Whisky Agency, hogshead, 264 bottles)

We do have the feeling that this session won't be going down anytime soon. As they say in rock and roll, let ourselves go… Colour: white wine. Nose: rather more on citrus, ashy limoncello, then those mangos that are not uncommon in these vintages, nectarines vine peaches, maracuja… At times you would believe we're in Ireland. It's true that Fort Williams isn't that far from Northern Ireland, is it? Just follow Loch Linnhe and swim towards the south… Mouth: indeed, a salty and tropical Ben Nevis. We'll keep this very short, without this tiny wee dustiness in the background, we'd have gone even higher. Finish: incredible tropical fruits. Very much in the style of the best unsherried 1996. Comments: some ravishing delight. Will that do?
SGP:651 - 90 points.

We're about to hope that we'll find a bad one. Almost… (remember Disraeli paraphrased by Whiskyfun, one gets so bored with good whisky!)

Ben Nevis 1996/2021 (53.6%, SCSM, for Guangzhou Single Cask Single Malt, hogshead, cask #80, 220 bottles)

Some Ben Nevis for China! Colour: gold. Nose: a more active cask, which translates into more custard and butterscotch. All the rest is rather on the 'gentler' side of Ben Nevis, with some fern, walnuts and ashes. Plus candlewax and zests. Water may change things… With water: acacia honey, honeysuckle, beeswax, marzipan… Indeed this is rather gentler. No spent engine oil and rusty old boats to be seen here. Mouth (neat): superb rounder, more citrusy, more liqueury Ben Nevis. The mangos, oranges and peaches are back. Sooty ashes in the background. With water: some salty medicinal and lemony notes ala older Laphroaig. Ashes in the background. Finish: long, curiously bigger and tighter, more robust, more Fort Williams (what?) Comments: loved the way it went from Carole King to Iggy Pop. I know, I know…
SGP:651 - 90 points.

We're still too high, we're going to run out of kerosen…

Ben Nevis 14 yo 1996 (46%, Dram Mor for TWM, cask #002, 237 bottle)

Some funny bottle that, apparently, has been released long after it was bottled. That's the Champagne way, in a way, and I'm sure it would be a better, albeit much costlier solution in many cases. Bottle when ready, release when even more ready. Colour: gold. Nose: metal polish, orange liqueur, paraffin and turpentine, ski waxes, Barbour grease and just new plastics. Future generations won't even know what that means. Mouth: so-good. More raisins in this one, both roasted and fresh ones, beeswax, yellow chartreuse, one oyster, one lemon, the ashes from one cigarette, and a sublime drop herbal oil, with some parsley, sorrel and sage. Finish: long, perfect. Comments: reminds me of the very best batches of the official 10. In 'dram mor' there's both dram and more. No wonder.
SGP:462 - 90 points.

Mayday, we'll never make it to the airport…

Ben Nevis 8 yo 2012/2021 (52.7%, Morisco Spirit, refill hogshead)

This one for our friends in Italy. Colour: pale white wine. Nose: always a joy to stumble upon a young, quasi-immature Ben Nevis that' full of smoked pears. It reminds me of the 6 years old (6!) by LMDW that we tried, when was that? Right, yesterday… You may check that note. With water: williams pears and stearin. Wool and porridge too. Mouth (neat): try to blend linseed oil with lemon liqueur and manzanilla wine. With water: good laughs, crushed sardines and anchovies, citrons, passion fruits (already!?) and one oyster. A drop of cider. Finish: long – BN is always long – and saltier yet. Saltier than the saltiest Bowmores, to give you an idea. Comments: wasn't 2012 last year? This isn't funny, but it's very good.
SGP:652 - 89 points.

Since we're in 2012… (Obama, Cameron, Merkel, Putin…)

Ben Nevis 8 yo 2012/2021 (59.9%, Golden Cask for The Whisky Barrel, cask #278, 315 bottles)

I think we've had a sister cask just yesterday, but that's a long time ago already. Colour: pale white wine. Nose: lovage and butterscotch, miso, croissants and chalk. And williams pears. With water: gets a tad chalky and muddy, in a good way. Wool and mud. Mouth (neat): woo-ooh, williams pear spirit and kirschwasser, plus peat, mezcal and chalk. Brilliant. A large mezcal session soon on Whiskyfun, perhaps to celebrate Spring and the complete crushing of the French far-right. With water: huge saltiness, a goldfish would believe it just swallowed seawater. Finish: long, fresh, salty, coastal. Almost cold fish bouillon with oyster juice. Comments: feels a little peated. Great spirit at any age anyway.
SGP:363 - 87 points.

Ben Nevis 25 yo 1996/2021 (53.6%, Liquid Treasures and Acla Selection, hogshead, cask #1747, 170 bottles)

So, this is partly Swiss. Colour: light gold. Nose: embarrassingly great. It's to be wondered if on the axis of wax (remember, HP, Cly, BN, Springbank), BN is not winning it. Amazing cough syrup, embrocation, camphor and burning church candles. Amen. With water: fresh teak, bidis, eucalyptus, paraffin. Mouth (neat): ultra-tight and full of juniper essence and thyme. Yet another style, while the greasy and chalky side of BN would have been preserved. With water: wax, turpentine, pine resin, kelp and oysters and drops of old Dutch genever. Any resemblance to real Dutch persons, living or dead, is purely coincidental. Finish: long, waxy, herbal. Apple peal and lemon zests in the aftertaste. Comments: unbeatable make.
SGP:562 - 89 points.

A last one please… Why not one by our dear friend The Sponge (who's just become a father, as any sensible whisky enthusiasts would know)…

Ben Nevis 15 yo 2005/2021 (48.5%, WhiskySponge, refill hogshead, 322 bottles)

Colour: white wine. Nose: a much gentler Ben Nevis, with even some candy sugar, cakes, bananas flambéed and pancake syrup. A little icing sugar and a bag of jelly babies. Great move to suggest such an easier, fruitier variation on BN. Mouth: good in the best sense of that word and just as odd. Swiss cheese and all-fruit juice, mutton suet, sour fruit juices, smoked porridge (just add a few drops of Laphroaig to some porridge and voilà), carbon, smoked cheese (they must be doing that in Jura, some kind of Morbier perhaps…) An odd, deviant, almost poetic if not surrealistic BN by our dear friend The Sponge. Finish: medium, on stewed vegetables. Eggplants and artichokes. Very salty and sour aftertaste. Comments: some kind of statement, I would presume, unless this would be a matter of a fairly zany vintage. Great fun anyway, as always at The Sponge's.
SGP:462 - 85 points.

Good, that's 18 Ben Nevis altogether. General conclusion, whenever you spot a Ben Nevis, first you buy, then you think (toy think if you really must, that's the optional part).

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