Ben Nevis 17 year old 1996 The Nectar of the Daily Drams

Ben Nevis Week One continues. I'm pretty confident that the single malts I'm reviewing today and tomorrow were pulled from ex-bourbon American oak casks. They have different vintages, ages, bottlers and ABVs; and, again, trying them side-by-side highlights each one's unique characteristics.

Living in the US hinders the whisky enthusiast's knowledge of the fun malty stuff happening on the European continent. So from what I've gathered, The Nectar is a Belgian importer and distributor, while Daily Drams is one of their bottling series.

This particular whisky has a low ABV for its age and I don't think the bottle states that it's a single cask, nor cask strength. Whiskybase lists that info, but I see nothing about it on the label. I'm bringing this up because while most indie bottlers make a point to focus on sexy phrases like "cask strength" and "single cask", The Nectar doesn't do so for this whisky. Because the alcohol content is low and there's no listed bottle count, one is left wondering if this was a small batch and/or diluted.



Distillery: Ben Nevis
Region: Highlands (Western)
Independent Bottler: The Nectar
Series: Daily Drams
Age: 17 years old (1996-2014)
Maturation: ex-bourbon cask(s?)
Alcohol by Volume: 49.3%
(from a purchased sample)

NEAT
Nice to see a straw color on a 17yo whisky. The nose has two sides that mingle well. The patrician element is made of lemon yogurt, peaches, melons, green apples and fresh butter. Its plebeian side smells of old machinery and sweat. With time, the fruit takes the lead, but the dingier notes stick around. A duality exists in the palate as well. There's Nevis Nice: melon, toffee and tapioca. Then there's Nevis uNusual, with metallic fruit (yep, that again) and industrial funk. With time, it also picks up some lawn and bitterness. There's a good length to the finish. Melon Jolly Ranchers and honeydew. Lemon bars. A good bitterness balances out the sweetness.

It feels a bit fragile, so I'll keep the dilution to a minimum.

DILUTED TO ~46%abv
Wow. Yes, this. The nose has pineapple, mango, dried apricots, malt, hints of barbecue and oceany phenolics. You know, old Laphroaig. [Editor's note: I'm an asshole.] The palate is similar to the nose, and adds on some nice bitterness and sweet lemons. Hints of fresh ginger and caramel sauce. It finishes with lemons and tropical fruit. Hints of ginger beer and bitter smoke.

WORDS WORDS WORDS
The whisky was fine when it was neat. The interplay between the dark and light notes worked well. It finished nicely. But adding just a little water (approx. 1:15 water:whisky) made it reeeeeeallllly good. It's the difference between a B- and B+ whisky. If I had a bottle, I'd be tempted to lower the whole thing to 46%abv. Of course, I don't have a bottle because the Beneluxians wisely cleared these from shelves three years ago.

Availability - Sold out
Pricing - maybe €90? 

Rating - 88 (with water)

Ben Nevis 18 year old 1997 Pearls of Scotland, Gordon & Company

This week was supposed to be all ex-bourbon casks, but, since I haven't the foggiest flight of fancy what yesterday's cask was, let's just call it Not-Sherry-Cask week. Maybe.

Today's Ben Nevis is truly un-sherried. Heck, it's un-oaked. I tried it along with yesterday's Nevis, and, yes, there were differences between the two.

pic from whiskybase

Distillery: Ben Nevis
Region: Highlands (Western)
Independent Bottler: Gordon & Company
Series: Pearls of Scotland
Age: 18ish years old (May 1997 - May 2015)
Maturation: sleepy hogshead
Cask #: 614
Bottles: 305
Alcohol by Volume: 50.9%
(from two purchased samples)

NEAT
The color is five beer piss. The best color. Lovely spirit on the nose. Lemon curd, orange marmalade, yellow nectarines. Light medicinal, ocean and cotton notes. An old-bottle-effect sorta note, like metallic fruit (sorry, that's best I could do). A sweets-free palate. Limes, minerals, spicy mint leaves. Serrano pepper and a light bitter bite. Oranges. Slight note of musty Nevis funk. It finishes with limes, malt, cayenne pepper and a hint of smoke.

DILUTED TO ~40%abv
The nose is all ink, moss, butter and the smell of a glencairn an hour after its peated whisky has been emptied. Specific! A big herbal bitterness opens up in the palate. Then there's burlap, ink, notebook paper and a mild sweetness. It finishes tangy and bitter. With sweet and smoky residues.

WORDS WORDS WORDS
This is an example of a very reserved cask that shaved off most of the rough edges and heat, while lifting up the spirit's highlights. Maturation without intrusion. Smart work by G&C. And kind of brave, considering what a wild card Ben Nevis used to be.

Josh, over at The Whiskey Jug, liked this one a lot. And he wisely bought a bottle back when it was $75(!). He found the lemon curd in the palate, but also found the orchard fruit note in the nose.

If you can still find a bottle for less than $100, and you prefer low-oak single malts, and you like Ben Nevis, then you can do worse than this one!

Availability - May still be available at a few European retailers
Pricing - $85-$120

Rating - 86

Revisiting Ben Nevis 14 year old 1998 Exclusive Casks

To start off the dozen-review run of Ben Nevis single malts, I'm going to revisit the first Ben Nevis I reviewed on this site. The whisky left me saying, "This is really......What is this?" In a good way. In fact it might be my favorite single cask bottled by David Stirk's outfit. The first time I tried it, I thought it was from a sherry cask. Later I did not. Now, I dunno. But I do like me some strange.

With all the wisdom I have gained, or (mostly) lost, over the past three and a half years I shall now consume this whisky once more.

Distillery: Ben Nevis
Region: Highlands (Western)
Independent Bottler: The Creative Whisky Co.
Series: Exclusive Casks
Exclusive to: Total Wine & More
Age: 14 years old (Dec. 1, 1998 - ???)
Maturation: some weirdo hogshead
Bottles: 258
Alcohol by Volume: 53.2%

NEAT
While there's some rich wood character in the nose, it gets relocated to the background. Up front it's barley and burnt plastic meets roses, oranges and fruit candy. It all gets prettier with time. The aromatic palate has raspberry jam, oranges, sea salt and something that's like a combination of fudge, honey and nutmeg. There's a reliable dingy, almost smoky, note throughout. In fact, things get smokier and maltier with time, while picking some peach and bitter notes too. It finishes with orange, fudge, vanilla and a hint of smoke. It gets grassier and spicier with time.

DILUTED TO ~40%abv
A different creature. The nose is all plastic toys, new book ink, newspaper print and new dollar bill. Meanwhile the palate has gotten silkier and creamier. Hints of ink and smoke. But also limes and a peachy pudding. It finishes with limes, peaches, smoke and vanilla bean.

WORDS WORDS WORDS
Idiosyncratic and delightful.   ←←← a phrase I'll probably use all month, thus rendering the word 'idiosyncratic' indistinct.

More to the point: I've now listed five different tastings of this same whisky on this site, and while the same notes appear throughout, they show up at slightly different times, combinations and strengths. Yet, the whisky is always very good. This time, I liked the palate better than the nose, when neat. But the diluted nose's transformation was a hoot! Loved it.

Laser Wolf speculated, in the comments section of the bottle's previous review, that the cask could have been some active US oak that held some funky French wine. I might even second that. Or...... it's Ben Nevis being Ben Nevis?

A harbinger of Ben Nevis reviews to come?

Availability - Long gone, like a turkey through the corn (💙 ol' Sam)
Pricing - $80

Rating - 88

Killing Whisky History, Episode 8 - Old Fitzgerald Prime, bottled 1964-1965

The first Killing Whisky History episode of 2018, on the first Friday of the first month, has arrived!

I figured I'd celebrate and sell out with some Stitzel-Weller (keyword: Pappy Van Winkle) action. This particular Old Fitz bourbon hit the market right around (and possibly because of) the retirement of PAPPY VAN WINKLE. Did I mention, Pappy Van Winkle?

Here's a list of the 11 Whiskies That Are Just Like Pappy Van Winkle:

No, I'm taking the piss. I'll leave those Pappy Van Listicles for the 327 other blogs and reputable non-whiskey publications that wouldn't know a mashbill if it hit 'em in the winkle.

It's show time. Thanks for watching!

Ben Nevis Distillery: An Introduction and History

INTRO

It's Ben Nevis month here at Diving for Pearls!

What does that mean exactly? Unless a cold knocks out my palate — the odds of which are favorable in this household — I will be reviewing TWELVE Ben Nevis single malts, four per week, and then opening up one of my bottles of Ben Nevis for a thirteenth review. That whisky will probably be a bit different than the dozen that precede it and should add to the overall experience.

There will still be a Killing Whisky History on Friday, which will be something which is most certainly NOT Ben Nevis. And maybe I'll throw in a review of something else fun at the end of the month.

Don't be surprised if there are additional distillery and brand explorations in the future...

HISTORY

source

Ben Nevis Distillery was founded by Long John McDonald (among other investors) in 1825, on the very Fort William acreage on which it operates today. Such was Ben Nevis's early success that a second facility, Nevis Distillery, was built nearby in 1878. But when the whisky market busted, the newer distillery closed in 1908. The original Ben Nevis site continued production and remained in the McDonald family until 1941, when it was sold to Joseph Hobbs, a Canadian millionaire who made his fortune bootlegging Teacher's Highland Cream into America during Prohibition.

Hobbs kept very busy in Scotland during the war years, helping National Distillers of America get their hooks into the Bruichladdich, North Esk, Glenury Royal, Fettercairn, Strathdee, Glenlochy and Benromach distilleries. He also had a brewery rebuilt into Lochside distillery. But Ben Nevis was his, and he immediately shut it down. For fourteen years. When he reopened it in 1955, it now had a Coffey Still and concrete washbacks. Both grain and malt were produced on site, and blends of the two were barreled at birth.

The distillery closed again in 1978, and the distillery was sold back to the McDonald family in 1981. It was reopened in 1984, with the Coffey Still removed. The distillery closed again in 1986. In 1989 it was sold to Nikka Whisky Distilling Company (now part of Asahi Group Holdings). Nikka opened the distillery in 1989, having replaced the concrete washbacks with steel and wooden ones.

STATS

Today, Ben Nevis has the capacity to distill 2,000,000 liters. Out of this total, it tends to produce about 50,000 liters of heavily peated (30-35ppm) spirit. It's one of the last (if not the last) scotch distilleries to use Brewer's Yeast. Fermentation used to be 48 hours in the steel washbacks and 96 hours in the wooden washbacks, but as of 2014 it's now 48 hours in all of them. Ben Nevis new make weighs in at 70%abv, and is barreled at 63.4%abv. Those barrels go into one of five dunnages or the racked warehouse. Or...

According to Malt Whisky Yearbook 2018, 75% of the distillery's output is transported to Japan for Nikka's blends, including Black Nikka. (On an editorial note, I have to say that sounds spectacularly inefficient, but I'd love to see how those tankers go from the West Highlands to the Chiba Prefecture.) That's up from the 50% amount reported two years earlier. Apparently the Japanese are thirsty.

THE WHISKY

Now that I've plumped your brains with useful nerdery, I shall dazzle your eyes with Ben Nevis single malt reviews starting next Monday. In the meantime, sit tight and stay warm.

*   *   *   *   *

Sources:

--MacLean, Charles. Whiskypedia. A Compendium of Scotch Whisky. New York, NY: Skyhorse Publishing, 2010.

--MacLean, Charles. Scotch Whisky, A Liquid History. London, UK: Cassell Illustrated, 2005.

--Ronde, Ingvar (Ed.). Malt Whisky Yearbook 2018. Shropshire, UK: MagDig Media. 2017.

--www.scotchwhisky.com

State of the author after 2017, in two visuals

This

And this

Mackmyra 10 year old Swedish Single Malt Whisky

We live in interesting times.

I'm talking about whisky. You may use whatever adjective you'd like to describe the general present tense.

The new whisky distilleries we'd gushed over five years ago are now coming of age, releasing whiskies with firm age statements. But we were so innocent five years ago. Some of us have since (probably wisely) given up whisky for brandy, rum or time with loved ones. The rest of us are either actively working for the whisky industry or are just A BIT more cynical than we were.

In the next year or two, I look forward to taking a good look at the single malt scotch distilleries/brands that are all growns up. Each has taken its own path. One may wonder if they're hitting this milestone at the right time or the wrong; and if their successes or failures should be heeded by the next generation of new distilleries.

I foresee those posts requiring some real work on my part. For now, I'm going to review the first regular ten year old from Mackmyra, the leading Swedish whisky distillery.

Mackmyra has actually been running for more than 18 years, and is in their (I believe) second distillery building. They seem to have had a good time over these past several years, constantly experimenting with classic Scottish methods as well as casks and ingredients native to Sweden. They were also not always in the habit of listing age statements. This ten year old seems to lean a little closer to classic single malt cask types, so lemme see how it goes...

Distillery: Mackmyra
Region: Sweden
Type: Single Malt
Age: 10 years
Maturation: Here comes a paragraph, sorry. I've seen some conflicting online reports about cask types. But Mix Master Angela D was quoted saying there were four types of casks. So for now I'm going with: virgin American oak, Oloroso-seasoned Swedish oak, first-fill ex-bourbons and refill ex-bourbons.
Alcohol by Volume: 46.1%
Chillfiltered? No
Colored? No

Its color is blond (Ha! I got Swedish jokes). Okay, it's yellow amber. The nose starts off with barley, oats, pilsner. A little bit of lemon, raspberry candy and roses. It's all very polite, until a whiff of fermenting fruit rises up after 20 minutes. The palate leads off with tart & tangy berries, tobacco and a refreshing bitterness. Then some sort of cranberry-vanilla-almond custard. There's a quirky oak note that's like new American oak, but fruitier. Some oloroso appears after ~30 minutes. It's aromatic. Mysterious. Wait, no, ignore that last note as it is too Murray-esque. It finishes tangy and grassy with a hint of bitterness. Cherry brandy. Oloroso. It's mellow, but has a good distance.

This is the sixth Mackmyra single malt I've reviewed and, like the previous five, it's fascinating from start to finish. The nose is the quietest part, but remains grain- and fruit-forward throughout. It took a long time for me to unpack the palate. There's oak, but it's not OAK! Rather, oak? The tangy, bitter notes also push it further afield from Scottish or American whisky, and thankfully so. Though it's a different creature than their First Edition, it's of a similar quality.

At half the cost of their "Moment" whiskies, this 10 year old seems priced to get the bottles moving, so I hope it (or something like it) becomes permanently part of the Mackmyra core range.

Availability - Continental European retailers, many of the UK ones have sold through
Pricing - $65-$85 (ex VAT, before shipping)

Rating - 85