Ben Nevis 21 year old Batch 8 – That Boutique-y Whisky Company

Ben Nevis

Ben Nevis distillery was founded in 1825 by John McDonald and can be found nestled at the foot of the namesake mountain Ben Nevis.. With a capacity to produce 2 million litres of alcohol per year the strange thing about this distillery is the fact that although most of the liquid produced goes into blends just like most other distilleries, up to 75% the liquid from Ben Nevis actually goes to Japan and into the Black Nikka Blend !!

Recently the fortunes of the distillery seem to have taken a turn for the better with people starting to re-evaluate the brand and the 10 year old is certainly gaining in popularity.

Indie bottlers still seem to be leading the way with the bottlings though and expressions like this 21 year old from TBWC are gathering pace rather rapidly.. That said hopefully the owners might actually take note and maybe offer a few more expressions in a core range and stop shipping it all over to Japan with the intention of loosing it all into the blend market..

Unfortunately though the blend market shows little signs of waning and the industry just sees the pound signs, when you consider the top selling whisky brands throughout the world it is no surprise though that these companies still want to focus on the blended market with brands such as Johnnie Walker, Jameson, Ballantine’s, Black Nikka which can all be found within the top 10 best selling whiskies in the world, add to these Officers choice and you have some really serious sales figures..

Batch 8 – Ben Nevis 21 year old

Distillery.. Ben Nevis

Region.. Highlands

Age.. 21 years

Abv.. 48.9%

Casks.. Sherry

Outturn.. 931 Bottles

Bottler.. That Boutique-y Whisky Company

Nose.. Rich aromas of dates, plums and dark chocolate slowly lead into thick dark gooey molasses, toffee and orange marmalade notes before a gentle espresso coffee note appears with freshly baked ginger biscuits, Jaffa cakes and Glacier cherries..

Palate.. A slap round the cheeks from a cinnamon, ginger peppery note which has you licking your lips before a little aniseed, candied orange and Manuka honey note rounds this off nicely.

Finish.. Chocolate orange with a touch of ginger

Thoughts.. Seductive sherry notes drag you head first into this glass full of deliciousness..

This is the type of liquid that should never see the inside of a blended whisky bottle ever!! It is divine and with a little twist on the palate that has you slapping your lips together wondering just what that flavour is because its so familiar but weirdly different..

Very enjoyable sherried whisky that is not overly sherried but extremely well balanced and just enough to get the senses going into overdrive..

Its Boutique-y-full !!