Cheeky me brought some Ben Nevis samples for my three-week trip to Paris. Can’t count on the Parisians to offer a anything other than fermented grape juice for a reasonable price.
What to mention about this distillery that I didn’t already? Maybe that around 1/3 of Ben Nevis’s new-make spirit is shipped to Japan to contribute the the Nikka Black blend. Heresy.
I fashion myself a BN appreciateur (if not a connoisseur) but I only had lots of lovely single casks so far. Time to acquaint my self with the humbler tiers of this tipple.
“Dew of Ben Nevis” | 12yo (bott. 1990s) | 40% | Official
from a 5cl sample bottle
🗒️ Tasting notes
Nosing
Yellow fruits of various kinds (apples, lemon, mango), delicate flowers, light pastries (lemon tart, shortbread), hay, and hint of snuffed candle.
Sipping
Creamy, medium sweet but flat in flavour at at first contact, then a few second in a rush of bright fruity notes, digestive biscuits, and little oak spice, and a faint ashy note.
💭 Comments
On the nose I get Clynelish vibes. The palate is a let down, though. Not bad, just bland, or perhaps even stale from long storage (but no cardboard defect).
Deliciousness
Fun factor
Value for money
Punchline
🔴🟡⚫
🔴🟡⚫
⚫⚫⚫
Dew not bother
Ben Nevis | 10yo | 46% | Official
from a 5cl sample bottle
🗒️ Tasting notes
Nosing
Young and bright/unripe and sour fruits notes, along with a savoury quality (Thai papaya salad, citrus, green grapes); peppery and herbal (pine needles, ruccola, or olive oil); coastal spray.
Sipping
Oily, savoury and sweetish at first contact. Then comes a peppery, even chilli-tinged, sensation along with bright tropical fruit notes, leading finally into the fusile.
💭 Comments
Not a “smooth” whisky, and the better for it! In the roster of standard 10yo-ish Scotch malts, this has more character than most, but also a higher price. Perhaps it was better in earlier releases etc etc, but it’s still a fun and tasty profile.
Deliciousness
Fun factor
Value for money
Punchline
⚫🟡⚫
⚫🟡🟢
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a malt with character
Ben Nevis | “Core Leis” | 46% | Official
from a 5cl sample bottle
🗒️ Tasting notes
Nosing
Sharp, by the first impression, apple cider vinegar. Peppery and grassy, banana peel, and minerality. Subtler notes of baked pears, grapefruit, vanilla and honey.
Sipping
Sweetish, slightly oily, and positively briny. Pickles, unripe fruits, biscuits, and tending towards rubber and ash in the finish.
💭 Comments
It tastes really young, and lacking in complexity, but the spirit on the other hand is very characterful. Not a boring whisky, for sure. It’s briner and sharper than the 10yo, which has richer fruit notes and is more well-rounded (while still being pretty wild). The small gap in price to the 10yo makes little sense to me, as the 10yo is easily better. But in any case, for less money one can get a great IB bottling of BN.
Deliciousness
Fun factor
Value for money
Punchline
⚫🟡⚫
⚫🟡⚫
🔴🟡⚫
expensive “budget” BN
Ben Nevis | “Traditional Peated Malt” | 46% | Official
from a 5cl sample bottle
🗒️ Tasting notes
Nosing
By now we are treading familiar territory: banana peel, apricot, sweet-and-sour sauce, grassy and floral notes including green pepper — but there’s also nice a mellow highland peat.
Sipping
Sweetish and briny, slightly peppery, and a light to medium peat that builds in the development. Melon, stone fruits, and cereals, with very clear malted barley notes appearing in the finish.
💭 Comments
Quite close to the Core Leis profile, perhaps a little rounder, but crucially with the soft peat adding another dimension.
Deliciousness
Fun factor
Value for money
Punchline
⚫🟡⚫
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banana barbeque
The ratings above don’t look too impressive, but I did really enjoy the flavour elements on display here. I feel like they just didn’t quite come together to its full potential.
Oh, and the cover picture is the view from my Paris BnB. Lovely place (except for the cockroaches).
DuckDrams 
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