The neat nose bristled with sherry influences that suggested tangy dark-fruit chutneys, brown sauce, bruised apples, ginger wine, orange peels, mulling spices and a sumptuous leathery richness. We also got plenty of freshly baked brown bread, treacle cake, tobacco and black miso. Reduction brought dark liquid seasonings, game-meat stocks, aged pinot noir, dried eucalyptus, orange oils and marzipan. The neat palate was superbly herbal and darkly earthy up front; robustly sooty and gamey impressions, with leather, bitter dark chocolate, herbal cough mixtures, salted Dutch liquorice and natural tar extracts. Water brought more gingery notes, crushed brazil nuts, black pepper, motor oils, damp pipe tobacco, walnut wine, paprika and fruity red chilli. Tars, aged armagnac and stewed dark fruits graced the aftertaste with a gorgeous rancio note.

About Ben Nevis

Ben Nevis distillery was built by "Long" John MacDonald in 1825, and was so popular by the end of the 19th century that at one point the estate employed over 200 people. After a series of closure and re-openings at the beginning of the 20th, it was eventually bought by former Canadian bootlegger, Joseph Hobbs. He installed a coffey still there in 1955, making Ben Nevis Scotland's first dual-operation distillery, and began to blend its malt and grain before filling it to cask. Sporadic closures again followed Hobb's death, with stability finally ensured in 1989 when it was bought by long-term customers, Nikka Whisky of Japan. Its turbulent history means there were few distillery bottlings until the launch of the 10 year old single malt in 1996, but casks had long been making their way to independent labels, and many of them are very highly praised.

About SMWS

The Scotch Malt Whisky Society (SMWS) was founded in 1983 by a group of friends lead by tax accountant Phillip ‘Pip’ Hills as a private members club. The concept behind the society was to source casks from all over Scotland which would then be bottled and made available exclusively to its members. Perhaps the most famous feature of these bottles are the unique codes. Each distillery is represented by a different number and the following digits indicate that particular release. That same year, the SMWS set up its first location in Leith’s Vault buildings in Edinburgh where it still stands today.