Review by: The Muskox

When looking for inexpensive samples in a friend’s inventory to, uh, have him pour for me casually (*cough), I spotted this seemingly interesting release from trusty bottler Single Cask Nation. I was so trusting that I didn’t check the Whiskybase entry and see an average score of 78. Uh oh…

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Distillery: Ben Nevis.

Bottler: Jewish Whisky Company.

Region: Highlands.

ABV: 67.6%, cask strength.

Age: 6 years old. Distilled in December 2013. Bottled in September 2020.

Cask type: Cask #1278, a 1st-fill Amontillado sherry butt.

Color: Medium gold. No colour added, un-chillfiltered.

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Nose: Pungent! A blast of sweet-and-sour citrus and pizza dough. Uh oh, there’s some sulfur – not overwhelming, but definitely a bit of a spent-fireworks quality. White cherries, white chocolate, yellow plums, and ripe strawberries. Mint sprigs, cinnamon, and licorice.

A good dribble of water adds some sweet-tart pineapple and ripe pears.

Palate: Silky texture, quite hot (surprise surprise). Arrives with orange, plums, and manuka honey. Buttery cookies and maple fudge in the middle, followed by rich cola spice. Sulfurous on the back end.

Water kills much of the heat and enriches the mouthfeel. Plenty more of that maple fudge and orange, and the development is all yeast, almond paste, and barley sugar.

Finish: Long and barley-sugary. Sulfurous at first, but it starts to fade. Lingering lime and grapefruit, ginger, grape soda, demerara syrup, and black tea. A hint of leather and flint.

Water removes some of the sulfur, leaving candied lemon, mixed nuts, more maple sugar.

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Possible SMWS bottling name: “Boiled bakeshop”

Notes: Gah, more sulfured sherry. This isn’t quite as bad as some of the sulfur-bombs I’ve had the displeasure of coming across (see recent examples from Dornoch, Deanston, Bruichladdich, and a mystery Speyside), with the sulfur coming across almost as a feature of the dram rather than a flaw (Key work “almost”). The sulfur does fade on the finish, and there are some great sweet and rich notes going on in here. Plenty of yeasty and malty Ben Nevis character. It does still seem at least partly wrecked… If you’re less averse to sulfur than I am, you might enjoy this quite a lot. Why oh why do distilleries still buy sulfur-treated casks?

Final Score: 73.

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Scoring Legend:

• 95-100: As good as it gets. Jaw-dropping, eye-widening, unforgettable whisky.
• 90-94: Sublime, a personal favorite in its category.
• 85-89: Excellent, a standout dram.
• 80-84: Quite good. Quality stuff.
• 75-79: Decent whisky worth tasting.
• 70-74: Meh. It’s definitely drinkable, but it can do better.
• 60-69: Not so good. I might not turn down a glass if I needed a drink.
• 50-59: Save it for mixing.
• 0-49: Blech.