Origin: Highlands (Scotland)
Type: Single Malt Scotch Whisky
Strength: 52.7%ABV
Ageing cask: Ex-Bourbon hogshead refill
Chillfiltered: No
Added colouring: No
Owner: Morisco Spirits
Price: € 79.00 on Morisco Spirits
Official website: moriscospirits.com
Vote: 86/100
Second of the two whiskeys in this recent release by the Italian bottler, flanked by the two rums (WP 14yo and Diamond 17yo), and the choice fell on the single cask of a distillery that finds its own dimension in the independent versions.
Second-fill cask, cask strength and without alterations, distilled in 2012 and bottled in 2021: there are all prerequisites for a great Highland classic.
Tasting notes
All the spirit of Ben Nevis immediately emerges on the nose, that slightly dirty herbaceous and mineral soul that titillates the nostrils, accompanied by yellow fruit (pineapple, peach, pear), honey, a touch of vanilla, eraser and a unusual impression of raw peppers. Bread dough. All without any invasiveness of alcohol, indeed, on the whole fresh and oily.
In the mouth it reaffirms the excellent alcoholic balance, with a pinch of pepper on the wave of herbaceous notes more marked by the fruity sweetness with injections of sugar paste, almonds, candied orange, hints of propolis. And the minerality that remains to act as a leitmotif, perhaps even clearer, with a slight bitter note in length.
Quite long and mellow finish, obviously mineral and herbaceous with brushstrokes of nuts, pineapple, citrus and propolis.
If you have a weakness for Ben Nevis, like me, you can only fall in love with this bottle, which fully expresses the characters of the distillery in an almost textbook cask. An excellent and almost didactic choice for those wishing to discover this never-enough-celebrated expression.