Ben Nevis 21 yo 1996 / 2018 Whisky Doris #2028 52.2% vs Ben Nevis 21 yo Private Bottling #1407 48.8%
Ben Nevis 21 yo 1996 / 2018 Whisky Doris #2028 52.2%
Full of culinary aromas that border on mustiness. Cold fry pans sitting unwashed on stained hobs sticky with grease. Firewood and butane, smears of soot and charred bits of meat. A savoury meat sauce made from lard and savoury herbs sits bubbling. And bovril, drops of soy are never far behind. The fruit is present but fermented and somewhat ‘cooked’. As expected its a thick and weighty spirit. But the oak too is heavily involved and gives the whisky strips of leather, caramel, dusty woodspice and burnt cream notes. 87 pts
Ben Nevis 21 yo Private Bottling #1407 48.8%
Much cleaner, waxier and more mineral. This one really pays homage to a old and soot flecked wax candle, sputtering black smoke and runny with molten wax solidifying around its base. There are certainly buckets of minerals and hot metal pans, clean this time, though its culinary trait is never far behind. Melted butter and baked yellow fruit. The gristy sparkle of the spirit weighs heavily and pleasantly in the mouth, along with leather, honey and almond cream. The mouth is also where the zesty, bitter yellow fruitiness really takes off. 90 pts
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