Ben Nevis is an excellent distillery that has, sadly, lately develop into a laughing inventory of kinds, what with its being bottled as Nikka Japanese whisky. I’ll admit that, with my evaluation of an Previous Specific Ben Nevis 18 12 months previous, I’m a type of detractors.
Partwork of my leaping on that pattern was the sensation of betrayal. The status of the Japanese for being trustworthy and never reducing corners is so well-known that we are able to overlook they’re additionally folks like us. Being reminded of this momentarily reduce deep.
The opposite purpose is a few form of bitter emotions. Nikka’s use of Ben Nevis to complement their “Japanese whisky” gross sales meant it made it arduous to amass the unique bottlings (OBs). This meant that independently bottled (IB) ones, oddly, grew to become the better method to style them. Whereas it’s widespread for geeks to desire the IBs over the OBs, I nonetheless need to strive the OBs to raised gauge the distillery’s profile. To knock one thing, you need to not less than strive it as soon as.
Fortunately, I used to be lastly capable of purchase an OB from Ben Nevis. It’s the Ben Nevis Macdonald’s Conventional. That is stated to be a recreation of the distillery’s (peated) fashion from 130 years in the past. (There’s additionally a earlier model of this with a completely different label). For those who’re acquainted with the distillery’s extra accessible expressions, they are usually unpeated and aged in ex-sherry casks. Judging by the colour and flavors, the Macdonald’s Conventional are aged in ex-bourbon casks.
I initially discovered Ben Nevis to be an attention-grabbing single malt, because it was usually talked about together with different single malts that aged properly in ex-sherry casks akin to Clynelish and Mortlach. Regardless of my dislike for something with ex-wine cask influences, my curiosity in these distilleries didn’t wane. It’s primarily attributable to realizing that their distillery DNA tends to be extra spirit ahead when in comparison with the one malts discovered from different distilleries.
Having a fermentation of not less than 48 hours (that may last more through the weekend) is attention-grabbing. To me, which means they’re nonetheless not working in the identical most capability as the opposite mainstream distilleries are. Fermentation lasting over the weekend would imply that they get some batches that ferment for not less than 72 to 96 hours, which ought to lead to extra congeners. therefore extra taste. I’m guessing this enables them to mix these longer fermented batches with the common 48 hour fermented distillate to be extra versatile with taste.
What’s additionally attention-grabbing about their fermentation is that they’re stated to be the one Scotch single malt distillery left that makes use of brewer’s yeast. This can be a kind of yeast that was used within the previous days. It simply screams “inefficiency” to me, which frequently interprets to extra taste relating to booze. For reference, Clynelish makes use of pressed yeast. Mortlach makes use of creamed yeast.
I’m additionally a sucker for distilleries that use wood washbacks. Ben Nevis has six chrome steel and two pine washbacks. My fascination with the wood washbacks stems from their capacity to create their very own distinctive setting. Learn my earlier article on fermentation if you wish to know extra about how wood washbacks differ from chrome steel ones. I like to consider these distinctive bacterial environments in wood washbacks as just like mom sauces/soups in some Asian cultures, the place there’s all the time a bit of little bit of one thing from the unique batch.
MacDonald’s Ben Nevis Conventional – Assessment
46% ABV. £53.76 from The Whisky Barrel, €83 from La Maison Du Whisky.
Shade: Chrysanthemum tea.
On the nostril: Initially, mild aromas of peat and smoke. After these are extra pronounced aromas of Fuji apples, apple vinegar, marzipan, puto (Filipino steamed rice desserts), dehydrated lemon peel, and ginger sweet. Beneath are refined aromas of nougat, toffee, and honey.
Within the mouth: The peat and smoke listed below are extra pronounced and last more than on the nostril. There’s additionally an enveloping pepperiness with a barely oily texture. After which are mild tastes of toffee, honey, and caramel. Then, I get barely extra pronounced tastes of marzipan, cream, leather-based, vanilla, pears, Fuji apples and matcha flavored-chocolate.
Conclusions:
It’s good to lastly style an OB Ben Nevis that I can bear in mind. What’s nicer is I now personal a bottle… a peated one, at that! With the renewed Japanese whisky guidelines, is it too naive to hope for the possibility that Nikka will begin utilizing much less Ben Nevis shares for his or her blended expressions? I hope that would be the case. I’d like to encounter extra OBs within the wild.
No matter my hopes and goals, I like this one. For me, this can be a balanced and two-faced whisky. For the reason that nostril is fruit-heavy whereas the mouth is extra cereal-heavy. There’s sufficient peat, smoke, fruitiness, and cereal flavors in it. It’s a disgrace that this appears to be a once-in-a-while launch regardless of not being thought-about a limited-edition OB.
Get this for those who can. How a lot peated OB Ben Nevis is on the market, in any case?
Rating: 7/10
(6/10 on the LMDW value)
