Ben Nevis 37 yo 1966/2003 Douglas Laing Old Malt Cask for Skorupa
Ben Nevis (the mountain) is Scotland’s tallest at 4406 feet.
Beautiful sight, and if you wanted to visit the distillery, you wouldn’t have to go all the way to the top – it’s conveniently located at its base.
Here are the distillery’s four stills. Once upon a time Ben Nevis, like Lochside and Loch Lomond, had coffey stills and could produce a Single Blend. The coffey stills were removed in 1971 when it was bought back by Long John Distillers. The distillery was later sold to Nikka and remains Japanese owned.Today the distillery continues churning out malt, mostly destined for blending, though popping up in indie form fairly regularly.
Ben Nevis 37 yo 1966/2003, Douglas Laing Old Malt Cask for Skorupa, sherry cask, limited to 174 bottles, 48%
Nose: Erm. Cognac. Seriously, smells like ‘yak. I had to double check what cask it came from. Sherry. Something real vinous and sweet here, honey, mulled wine and golden raisins. Very ‘cooked’ nose, as opposed to the fruitcake flavours of some sherried whiskies. Ok but also full of coal gas, very gunpowdery dirty, and old matches. Touch of zesty effervescence, like 7 up freshly poured into a frosty glass, then dusty cocoa and melted butter.
Palette: Yup that cognac made its way to the tongue, only for a bit, though, sweet golden raisins giving way to equally rich meatiness and hot metal smells. It’s quite big and chewy in the mouth. Lightly mulled but that gunpowder reasserts itself on the tongue with a prickly deliciousness. Reminds me of the Mortlach 1976 that way. Quite appealing.
Finish: Not that long, leftover sweetness. And some malt, some prickly umami, I guess that’s the sulfur then.
Who says only Mortlach can have meatiness. Here’s a fine example of old time roasty sweet tastiness. Admittedly this may not be everyone’s cup of tea.
But very drinkable, un-modern sherried whisky.
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