Review by: The Muskox

After trying and reviewing 5 straight 11-year-old whiskies, it’s nice to have the opportunity to shake things up with a 25-year-old.

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Distillery: Ben Nevis.

Bottler: Signatory Vintage.

Region: Highlands.

ABV: 58.4%, cask strength.

Age: 25 years old. Distilled on 08/16/1991. Bottled on 09/13/2016.

Cask type: Cask #2915, a sherry butt.

Color: Light amber. No colour added, un-chillfiltered.

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Nose: Spicy-sweet. Lots of honeyed malty notes – Montreal-style sesame-seed bagels, sugar-dusted tea cakes, iced lemon-poppyseed loaf, even some dark rye bread. Rich fruit too, more fragrant and less sherried than I expected: Orange, mango, honeydew, yellow plum, and citron. Mint and banana leaves. Dusty cocoa powder, allspice, toasted almonds, and demerara sugar. A bit licoricey. Fragrant wood. A tiny hint of earth and maybe even sulfur sits in the background.

Palate: Oily texture. Arrives sweet, dark, and malty with apple turnovers, sticky caramel, and pumpernickel, then peach nectar, grapefruit, sesame seeds, and fragrant exotic woods. It develops to deep dark oak and rich spices. Heavy tobacco, leather, black coffee, cinnamon stick, and poppyseeds. Some rich fruit comes in – stewed plums and cassis. Demerara and sweet wort.

Finish: Long and tart. Oaky (but not bitter) at first, but lifting into creamy fruit. Peach cobbler a la mode, yellow plums, granadilla, grapefruit, pink Starburst, and a dusting of nutmeg. Bananas Foster! Lingering charred oak, pumpernickel, walnuts, and mint.

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Alternative SMWS bottling name: “A true ‘everything’ bagel”

Notes: Such a complex and interesting whisky. There’s an interesting light/dark conflict going on in the whisky. The palate has all these dark malty, roasted, nutty, oaky bass notes, then the finish lightens things back up with the fruit and vanilla. I still think I’ve understated the complexity. Oh, and that finish! Long, rich and fruity. Interestingly, there’s very little sherry here for 25 years in a presumably first-fill cask. Not that I’m complaining. Comparing this to the trio of 25yo Old Particulars I tried a little while ago, this beats them all.

Final Score: 88.

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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.