Origin: Highlands (Scotland)
Type: Single Malt Scotch Whisky
Strength: 57.9%ABV
Ageing cask: Finished in ex-Sherry PX first fill
Chillfiltered: No
Added colouring: No
Owner: Dram Mor Group
Average price: € 85.00
Official website: drammorgroup.com
Vote: 84/100
The Dumbarton bottler definitely has a soft spot for Ben Nevis, often featured in its seasonal releases.
And here we have this year’s summer release, again a youthful version, with 321 cask strengthbottles produced from a single cask hogshead maturation of what is definitely not the shyest of sherries, Pedro Ximénez.
Tasting notes
An initial alcoholic exuberance quickly dissipates on the nose to give way to impressions of roasted peanuts, chocolate-covered candied orange peel, goji berries, grappa-corrected coffee and a slight but persistent mineral vein. Along the length, it’s the roasted nuts that dominate, with a pleasant brush of smoke.
On the palate, it requires steady nerves because, here too, the alcohol content is quite a challenge, which is, however, gladly tackled thanks to a rather lively and sparkling spirit, where the influence of sherry returns on the roasted coffee and nuts tones together with sprinklings of spices (ginger, cinnamon, nutmeg), candied fruit and vegetable impressions. In the background, always a note of burnt wood.
Quite long finish where the impressions are repeated wrapped in a smoky embrace, uniting dark fruit, chocolate, coffee and nuts in a cheerful composition.
Ben Nevis proves itself, once again, a distillate capable of making itself felt even through the most pronounced influences, in this case it’s the charring of the cask that marks the impressions while keeping the prosopopoeia of the sherry at bay. Entertaining and never boring.