ben nevis – grey whisky

Whisky 2021 – 4-9

4 – Glenallachie 2009 10yo Sauternes Barrel cask no. 3727 58.9%

Nose is very Sauternes with honey and blossoms. Hand cream, salt, freshly cut pink lady apples dusted with brown sugar.

Palate is quite hot, flinty, gun powder and rubbery. its got honey and caramel but it’s a bit disappointing Mr Walker for you.

Finish liquorice, fennel salt and burnt caramel. Hints of cream.

3/5 Stars

5 – Glenallachie 2005 15yo Madeira Barrel cask no. 3756 60.7%

Nose is orange, almond cake mix, burnt vanilla cream and brown sugar. It’s got a super pleasant dried apricot note.

Palate is hay, cream… wow lots of cream. Nutty and sweet apricots. Orange zest and cake mix.

Finish is unsurprisingly is cream.

4/5 Stars

6 – Arran 2002 17yo by TWA 49.2%

Nose honey, hay, intense fruit sweetness… fun fruit sweetness if I may. Eggy pudding.

Palate isn’t this a Ben Nevis? Eggy pudding, citrus, apricot, grape vine and plum cake. Nutty.

Finish is fake plum flavouring, date pips and slightly tannic.

4/5 Stars

7 – Ben Nevis 1996 23yo by TWA 47.6%

Nose is super waxy!!! Orange zest and brine. Honey and hay. Coffee and chlorine?!

Palate is savoury and waxy. Reminds me of burnt brioche. Green pineapple, olive brine.

Finish is (still) sharp acidic green fruit topped with cream. A bit spicy.

4/5 Stars

8 – Tobermory/Ledaig 1995 25yo by TWA 48.5%

Nose is waxy and lemon zest, fresh cut pineapple, pineapple upside down cake

Palate waxy, green peaches and pineapple, lemon zest, vanilla biscuits, grape vines and cream.

Finish is green fruit, spice, cream and spice. Maybe chocolate mousse.

4/5 Stars

9 – Bunnahabhain 2013 by The Whisky Jury ex Oloroso 53.2%

Nose is chlorine and Cheetos, clear raisin and date sugars. Band-aids and fritz?! (That’s Bologna for my US friends)

Palate is capsicum and cheese pizza, rocks and slightly ashy.

Finish is more Cheetos, rocks and fritz.

4/5 Stars

Whisky 2021 – 1-3

And we’re away for 2021. Hope you enjoy the reviews, they’ll be cross posted to Reddit and Instagram.

1 – Wemyss Bowmore 1990 “Satsuma Soap” 48% for Whisky Fair Takao

Nose is salty, flinty, I ripe plums, maraschino cherries and honeyed… really inviting minerality. Touches of cream.

Palate is intensely floral, salty, peachy, tropical fruit, slight licks of smoke

Finish is grassy, cocoa dusted and salty

5/5 Stars

2 – 1976 Blend The Maltman (Clynelish, Dailuaine, Macduff, Teaninich, Ben Nevis, Invergordon)

Nose reminds me of my grandfather’s garden with dried apricots warmed in the hot sun. Day old cream, spice and cloves.

Palate is gnarled woody apricot trees, apricot kernels and more stone fruit. It is salty and loads of vanilla cream. Goes tannic with bruised apples and slightly thin before the great finish.

Finish is super rich vanilla cream.

4.5/5 Stars

3 – Secret Speyside 1993 26 Years by TWA and Three Rivers 49.3% Ex-sherry hogshead

Nose is inviting deep sherry with apples, salt and stone fruit

Palate is cream, spice, and well controlled rubbery sulphur. It’s got a lightness of spirit with great nuttiness.

Finish is lots of stone fruit and sarsaparilla

4.5/5 Stars

Whisky 2020 – 52-56 – Berry Brothers & Rudd tasting

52 – Berry Bros & Rudd Benrinnes 1997/2017 19yo Bourbon Cask #856, 46%

Nose is honey, honey, honey loads of honey. Lemsip and apricots.

Palate is biscuity, waxy and some orchard, green pineapple, salty, orange blossom

Finish cream, slate and dried apple slices

***

53 – Berry Bros & Rudd Retro Label for Shinanoya Aultmore 1991/2015 23yo Bourbon Hogshead #6090, 49.9%

Nose is honey, waxy, orange zest, vanilla cake, chocolate milk, chocolate biscuits fresh out of the oven

Palate rye bread with salted butter, honey, grass and white flowers

Finish spicy and salty

***

54 – Berry Bros & Rudd Retro Label for Shinanoya Teaninich 1983/2018 34yo #6729 Refill Bourbon Hogshead, 46.2%

Wow! This nose. Shoe polish, maybe?? Carob, pineapple lumps, camphor

Palate really funky, minerality, lots of spice and juicy fruit. Tastes like “old whisky” and elegant.

Finish leather, tobacco, orchards.

****^

55 – Berry Bros & Rudd North British Single Grain 1996/2014 18yo Oloroso Sherry Butt #224766, 56.8%

Nose is crumpets, maple syrup, butter, Brazil nuts

Palate dates, red dates, wood notes lead chocolate liquorice and super spicy,

Finish dates and metallic

****

56 – Berry Bros & Rudd Ben Nevis 1997/2018 20yo Sherry Cask #85, 54.6%

Nose is apricots and oranges, coconut, lime, bitters, honey cake

Palate butter cake, loads of fruit, leads to dates, golden syrup

Finish metallic honey, toast with butter and liquorice

****^

Whisky 2019 – 108

108 – Ben Nevis 1996 by Elixir Distillers, sherry butt cask #1528

Great nose of honey and caramel, marshmallows and strong minerality. Falling rose petals in a rose garden.

Honey, green grass and coal. Reminds me of the tar shampoo I used as a kid. The grassy note is a little too strong for me and takes away from the honey. A bit of burnt camp sausage floats in.

Straight forward finish is flinty, with green grass again and a hint of cream.

***

Whisky 2019 – 80-82

80 – SMWS 27.97 (Springbank) Glazed cashews and lemon lollies

Loads of Campbelltown funk on the nose. A super zingy lemon and honey drive the nose. It’s met by green almonds and the seaside salt of a good sherry.

On the palate lemon zest and gun powder flooded by red plums and tea cake followed by almond butter.

An interesting finish of oil paints, glue and red grapes.

****

81 – Ben Nevis 1992 17 Years by High Spirits cask 2624

Nose: Lemon, peaches steeped in champagne, prunes and apricots

Palate: Grassy and loads of dried pineapple, honey and salted butter smeared on rye bread, loads of funky cask spiciness

Finish: super juicy citrus and stone fruit

****

82 – Ben Nevis 10 Years cask strength Batch 1 distilled 21 April 2008 62.4%

Crisp and clear nose with overwhelming honey with such beautiful fruit sugar brightness, a twist of coffee and toffee.

The palate features loads of tea cake (as expected with Ben Nevis), butter and honey. Some great mineral flinty and coal like, late reminiscent of soft liquorice.

Wine like tannins and stonefruit really pushes through on the finish, honey, maple syrup.

****

Whisky 2019 – 48-50

48 – Teaninich 12 Years by Hidden Spirits cask TH619 51.7%
Nose: light floral honey, juicy stone fruits, slight smoke, warm zinc, dough

Palate: great mineral elements, oil paints, light fruits, heather, leather, soil, nutty

Finish: light cream, flint

****

49 – Ben Nevis 13 Years by Hidden Spirits for Whisky & Alement cask WA916 57.1%
Nose: Honey, honey, honey, lemsip, nuts, earthy

Palate: Burnt toast with margarine and honey, thyme, prunes

Finish: burnt thyme, chicken stock, honey

****

50 – SMWS 52.23 “Ice cream and gorse by the sea” (Old Pulteney) 2nd Fill PX
Nose: Rich porridge, coal, rose hip, vanilla yoghurt, stewed apricots, fruit tingles

Palate: Creamy, so creamy, oats, pepper, leather, grape vines, snickers

Finish: cream, apricots, almonds

****

Whisky 2019 – 38-41 – Bar C Shell, Tokyo

38 – Ben Nevis 22 years 1996 by the whisky find sherry butt c#828
Nose: Dough, chocolate, orange, apricot, cream, lemon cheese cake, almonds

Palate: Apricot, stonefruit, whipped butter, burnt chocolate cake

Finish: Cream, spices, rock melon

****

39 – Ben Nevis 21 years 1996 selected by J’s Bar bottles by The Vintage Malt
Nose: dough, apricots, almonds, candy orange zest, chocolate

Palate: cream, rock melon skin, citrus candies

Finish: cream, salt, butter, burnt orange zest

****

40 – Auchroisk 28 by Cadenhead for Whisk-e 42.8%
Nose: Pencil shavings, chlorine, yeasty, hand lotion

Palate: Kinda empty, old ice cubes

Finish: oil paints, olive brine, super savory

***

41 – Imperial 17 Years Cigar Malt Salon de Shimaji PEN x Shinanoya
Nose: jersey caramels, brown sugar and butter, maple syrup, grilled nectarines

Palate: cream, apricots, honey, rye, butter, tobacco

Finish: Butter and soy sauce, tea tannins, grape seed

****

Whisky 2019 – 1-3

Another year… more drams coming. I’ll add a rating out of 5 stars this year and a bit more detail where I can.

***** – Outstanding

**** – Very Good

*** – Good

** – Fair

* – Poor

No stars – Faulty

Hope you enjoy my tasting notes for 2019.

1 – Ben Nevis 1998 16 years old by Cask & Thistle, Cask 0345
Nose: honey and banana leaf, leather, bee hives, aspirin, musk

Palate: classic Ben Nevis, passionfruit vine, metallic, super intense honey leading to tobacco, orange and musk, rock melon, stone fruit.

Finish: musk, apricots, peaches, honey
****

2 – Springbank 1990 25 years old by SCOMA hogshead 587
Nose: waxy dried fruit, dried apple, honey, figs, old butter, salt, kit-Kat’s

Palate: old apples, wax, strawberries and cream, funky wood, honey, dried apricots

Finish: cream, grape seeds
****

3 – Mysterious distillery 1975 Golden Tiger
Nose: coffee and honey, waxy notes, musk sticks, chlorine, metallic, pepper, chocolate

Palate: old leaves, juicy, cream, green apple, pencil shavings, grilled pineapple, raspberry

Finish: super long cream and melted butter finish that lasts and is interspersed with fruits, dried orange, coffee
*****

Whisky 2018 – 198-200, Copper & Oak, New York

198 – Invergordon 1988 by The Sovereign cask HL10699
Nose – grape vines, cookie dough, milk chocolate, shortbread, raspberry
Palate – chocolate chip cookies, crisps, milk chocolate,
Finish – slight cream and vines

199 – Dew of Ben Nevis 12 Years
Nose – cream, burnt orange, toffee
Palate – green vines, peat, bitter orange, tobacco, honey comb, cream
Finish – marmalade, rubber

200 – Clynelish 1995 by The Exclusive Malts 21 years Cask 10206 52.6%
Nose – wax, banana bread, vanilla, kiwi fruit, raw dough, strawberry mousse
Palate – hot, heavy, waxy, green vines, old whisky, day old pavlova, coffee trifle
Finish – wax, honey

Whisky 2018 – 180-184

181 – Douglas Laing’s Timorous Beastie 21 Year Old Sherry Blend
Nose – honey, fruit tingles, hand cream
Palate – honey, lemon, slight hazelnuts, cocoa
Finish – slight sugary and creamy

182 – Ben Nevis 1990 by Le Gus’t 27 years 1990 Port Pipe Cask #5 *
Nose – aged sake, truffles, funky, dirty, cigarettes, honey,
Palate – honey, maple syrup, terbium, hairspray, bbq meats
Finish – salty, pepper sauce, honey, herbs

183 – Glenlivet 2007 by Signatory bottled 2018 Sherry Hogshead 900204
Nose – chocolate, orange oil, cocoa, pine oil, apricots, fruity and vibrant with waterPalate – pancakes, salty, hand cream, honey, lime cordial, hot butter, caramel sauce, peppery with water,
Finish – flinty, rubber, soy sauce, cream

184 – Fettercain 1988 by The Whisky Agency for Shinanoya bourbon hogshead cask 2001
Nose – waxy, fruity, peaches, dried apricot, malt, honey, pencil shavings, nutty
Palate – watermelon, cream, blackberries, waxy, green fruit, hand cream, cashew nuts
Finish – creamy creamy creamy, pepper