Ben Nevis distillery garnered a lot of positive publicity in the last 2-3 years with lots of successful independent releases. We even see shortage of stock for the official 10 Year Old in the markets as it becomes a fans favorite.

I have a few opened Ben Nevis bottles at home but today I’ll focus on another Ben Nevis – a 27 Year Old from 1990 which appeared in the latest blind tasting competition I participated in (sort of).

This Ben Nevis was a bottling for the 40th birthday of SCOMA shop in Germany. It was distilled in 14.12.1990, filled into a Bourbon Cask #1368 and was finally bottled on 25.04.2018. Only 317 bottles of 500ml were made and they were bottled at cask strength of at 56.4%

Ben Nevis 1990 27 Year Old (for Scoma.de) (56.4%, €129,99)

Photo: http://www.limited-whisky.de

Nose: Dusty, some old, tired and slightly damp cask oakiness, nutty, cereals and bread, honey but not much herbal or vegetal notes as I noticed in many younger Ben Nevis I tasted lately.

Palate: Oh, far better! sweet, barley sugar, oily, dusty nuttiness and dryness, grounded oak spices, greenery, papaya, pineapple, melon, honey sweetness along with the sourness coming from the tropical fruits notes, very aromatic, ending with dusty and sweet bready notes.

Finish: Medium length, dusty, lingering sweet green fruitiness led by melon, nuts, creamy and subtle oak spices.

Thoughts: Nose was terrible at first and I’m not sure if its how it should be or maybe I should blame my competition sample or maybe it’s the bottle cork fault. Thankfully it did improve with lots of time and the palate/finish parts were cracking, totally covering for the nose faults. It’s a real magical Ben Nevis and we do know Ben Nevis is on the rise lately… so get some if you don’t have any.