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. Continue reading
Nose: Soft smoke, honey, dried fruit and then raspberry and strawberry, still quite smoky. Some meat, brine, dry ashes and some tar, red berries juice and red apples peels. After a few more minutes it’s blended together to smoky, coastal and sherry sweetness cocktail. Good 
Nose: Soft stone fruits, creme, honey, gentle spices with lots of white pepper. After a minute or two a subtle tropical fruit sweetness, becoming very fresh and somewhat chocolaty. 
Nose: Soft sweet smoke, pears, brown sugar, smoked banana peels (plantain), vanilla, hints of sour fruits (even a bit tropical. Easy going and nice but after a long time in the glass it disappeared almost completely. 
Nose: A wee lactic note at first, then sweet and sour dried fruit, mostly raspberry, gooseberry and some unripe strawberry, gentle rolling sweet peat smoke. After a few minutes intense vanilla smoke waves. Overall a good balance of sherry sweetness and sweet peat with the sweetness not going overdrive. 
Nose: Sweet rich caramel, some wood glue and varnish, cream, butter and marzipan-y, pears and peaches are in there as well. After a few minutes it’s getting sugary, fruitier and less woody with more honey and inching forward official foursquare territory with sweet fruity perfume. 
Nose: Sweet with honey and pears, then comes soft peat smoke. There’s Crème brûlée, a drop of vanilla, cake dough, soft crushed black pepper, gentle saltiness and minerals. After a few minutes there’s also brine in addition to the salt. Overall quite a mellow and soft nose. 
Nose: The nose here starts with gentle peat smoke and then slowly it develops into a pure coastal whisky with brine, sea breeze, salt, some wax, lemon, brioche, white pepper. Also show up: smoked fish and seafood, pears. 
Whisky Gospel 