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. Continue reading
Nose: Sweet honey, a bit of vanilla, dried berries and after a short while also nutmeg and cinnamon spices. Subtle smoke and charred oak (but less than Wings of the Eagle), lightly sugared preserved berries juice and citrus. 
Nose: Hello sweetie! This nose is rich and brimming full of sherry notes. Dried red fruit and berries, sweet earthy peat and after a minute or two there’s dark chocolate, espresso, nutmeg and a dash of grounded cinnamon. Well balanced and rich. 
Nose: More sherry casks in the mix and therefor it’s a bit more sherried here with more dried fruit, milk chocolate, cinnamon, very clean and somewhat thin (chill filtered?), subtle vanilla. After a few minutes there are plums and sultanas compote, also soursweet fruitiness and canned pineapple. All in all not too bad! 
Nose: A very sweet nose, vanilla, malt, subtle smoke, after a minute in the glass it develops some dried fruits, caramel, nutmeg, sweet sour bright cherries, more vanilla, oak spice. Feels a bit thin. 
Nose: The Fino cask speaks out loud here with sour fruits, citrus and mandarins, cherries and nuts. Getting spicier and coastal after a few minutes with brine, sea breeze and minerals, subtle sweet wine. After a few minutes also honey, fresh cut oak spice, malt, pickled cucumbers juice (a bit and in a good way) and more nuts. 
Nose: Fungal, sour berries, sweet cherries, lactic, seaside breeze, sweet peat smoke, cinnamon and nutmeg.
Nose: Far less lactic but still has some, but it’s manageable. But on the good hard it’s more smoky, with sweet dried fruit below the surface getting stronger the more time elapses.
Nose: Oh this is a sweet one. The Brandy impact is there with sweet white wine, grapes, nuts and sultanas. subtle pepper, vanilla, bread-y and creamy. With a few drops of water it’s spicier and the bread-y note turns to multi-cereals health bread. 
Nose: Somewhat musty and fungal at first, takes a few minutes to expose its secrets, then the sherry notes shows up, sour sweet dried fruit and it’s getting a bit dirty, oily, fumes, greenery, Almost a Springbank sans peat… A few more minutes and more layers are exposed, nuttiness then sour sweet fruitiness followed by spiciness layer and back to fungus. A brilliant nose experience. 
Whisky Gospel 