During the 10th Whisky Show in London (organized by the Whisky Exchange) that took place a few weeks ago, a set of three show bottles were released under a special celebratory theme for the 10th anniversary: ‘The Future of Whisky’.

The three limited editions are from Ben Nevis, Ledaig and Invergordon and those bottles have 3D lenticular label, giving a feel of depth and movement when you move the bottle around, very cool!

Today we’re checking out the Ben Nevis 21 Year Old which served as the ‘Past Future’ figure in the ‘Future of Whisky’ trio and according to the official words, it’s what they used to think the future of whisky would be (but eventually it wasn’t).

There were 144 (or 146, depends if you believe the PR or the website) bottles, bottled at 47.5% from a Sherry Butt.

Ben Nevis 21 Year Old ‘The Future of Whisky – Past Future’ (47.5%, £130)

Nose: Classic dirty Ben Nevis, lots of fruitiness sprawling around here with a bit of greenery, green tomato vines, kiwi, guava (I hate it but I have a tree in my garden, don’t ask!), green apples, sweet dried fruit, milk chocolate, nutmeg and cacao.

Palate: Super dirty, chocolate, again very green, unripe fruits, kiwi, papaya and green apples, slightly sweet dried fruit and oranges as supporting act. Cinnamon, nutmeg and then a full round back to chocolate and cacao.

Finish: Medium-long length, dirty, sweet dried fruit, chocolate and greenery in the background.

Thoughts: None of the bottles survived the show and reached the Whisky Exchange web shop. And for a good reason. This is good Ben Nevis. Or just plain good whisky. It’s fruity whisky with depth, lots of flavors and slight dirtiness which I like a lot. Since so many visitors thought so during the show (being out of stock as evidence), maybe this one should have been the Present and not the Past, Ah?