Ben Nevis 23 Years Old Batch 10

By Barry Bradford on December 13, 2019 • ( Leave a comment )

Ben Nevis 23 Years Old Batch 10 (48%, That Boutique-Y Whisky Company, 558 Bottles, 2019)

ABV: 48%
Age: 23 Years Old
Bottling: That Boutique-Y Whisky Company
Category: Highland single malt scotch whisky
Cost: £169.95 available from Master of Malt
Origin: Ben Nevis distillery
Vintage: undeclared

What they say

We’ve all done it. We’ve all impressed our friends by saying “I’m going to climb Ben Nevis!” and then actually just gone and had a look at the Ben Nevis distillery, which sits right beside the mountain. Interesting to note that back in the 1800s, Ben Nevis was actually two distilleries which eventually merged into one in the early twentieth century.

Now, if you take a look at the label of our Ben Nevis, you’ll see a chap atop Ben Nevis (mountain), looking at Ben Nevis (distillery), drinking Ben Nevis (whisky) and holding Ben Nevis (bottle), which features the scene again on its label. It’s like one of those eternal loop thought experiments, or like that picture that could be a duck or a rabbit. Kind of.

Official tasting notes:

Nose: Caramelised pineapple, dried citrus peel and a hint of old coins initially, then Carnation Caramel, coffee icing, smoked meats and a little cheese.
Palate: Rounded and quite chewy, with butterscotch, hazelnut cream and a sparkle of oak spice. There are tropical fruits and a little dark chocolate bitterness amongst some classic Ben Nevis funk – pastrami and engine oil this time – underneath.
Finish: Boiled citrus sweets, gingersnaps and cough syrup.

What I say

Door #13 in That Boutique-Y Whisky Company’s 2019 Advent Calendar is this 23 year old single malt hailing from Ben Nevis distillery.

This post was sponsored by That Boutique-Y Whisky Company by provision of their 2019 Advent Calendar.

My tasting notes:

Appearance: Dark orange/amber gold (13/20), medium-fine droplets and tapered legs.
Nose: Richly toffee’d dram with heather honey, baked apples and dried orange slices, eludes to spices, dried fruits, sticky marmalade, coffee, malty barley and buttery flapjacks.
Taste: Rich and full bodied, woody sugars, dried fruits, vanilla cream, ginger and orange marmalade, sappy and resinous woody oak, raisin and cherry, toffee, cocoa, roasted nuts and carnauba wax.
Finish: Long, drying, sugar coated nuts, resinous.

Overall

A simply wonderful Ben Nevis expression! I found this one much grubbier and sweaty and full of Ben Nevis’s industrial funk than the Amber Light bottling.