Ben Nevis McDonald’s Traditional (2015)

According to the 2022 Malt Whisky Yearbook, out of 2,200,000 liters produced annually, Ben Nevis produces approximately 50,000 liters of heavily peated (40ppm) distillate and part of that annual production goes to the McDonald’s Traditional.  Occasional single cask independent bottlings of this heavily peated stock are released as well.  I’ve not heard where they source the peated malt.  It could be PEM on Islay or one of the highland malting facilities.  This older version is a bit more highland like in character, though quite phenolic.  This is a bit older release of peated Ben Nevis and in this case it appears that they were using a bit more sherry cask in the vatting this time.  I found another version of this older taller bottle that was much lighter in color dated around 2017 or 2018 suggesting fewer sherry casks were employed.

Country/Region: Scotland/Highlands  

Color: 1.1 burnished (NCA)

ABV: 46% (NCF)

Nose:  This is pretty phenolic with a smoke level fairly close to Port Charlotte, with a good amount of floral to go along with it.  Under the top later there is some nice graham cracker, light dates and sultanas, cream ale, caramel, orange marmalade

Palate:  Sweet on maple syrup and graham cracker, apple and pear, before the smoke really shows up in the development along with ground ginger, peat, clove, cinnamon

Finish: Medium length with smoke initially, graham cracker, cinnamon, carrot cake

Rating: 85

Ben Nevis McDonald’s Traditional (2021)

During our tour of Ben Nevis in Oct 2021 we were told that this release consisted primarily of 12 year old stock.  As is often the case with Ben Nevis under current ownership the stock is quite thin and so they’ve probably had some older and younger stocks required to build a full batch. This has been a NAS whisky for a long time but it’s interesting to understand the ages employed. Age however is just a number.  

Country/Region: Scotland/Highlands  

Color: 0.6 old gold (NCA)

ABV: 46% (NCF)

Nose: In comparison this one has a much more coastal nose with more brine than the other batch with similar smokiness again slightly floral.  Vanilla wafer, cream ale, apple, pear, mint   

Palate:  Again on the palate more briny leaning somewhat more towards an Islay, with mint, vanilla wafer, apple, pear, dry ginger, cream ale, chervil, parsley

Finish: Medium length with smoke, vanilla wafer, ginger, black pepper, thyme, chervil, broken grass stems

Rating: 83

Summary:  This pair is pretty peaty.  Not quite as strong as Port Charlotte 10, but closer to that than Oban. The older version with the vatting including a bit of sherry casks is a bit more interesting and unlike some peat and sherry combos didn’t go especially dirty or barbecue sauce.  It maintains the graham cracker notes of the core 10 but the peat here feels more like Port Ellen Maltings in style. More coastal and phenolic. Great texture.  However, these peated batched are much less fruity than the OB Ben Nevis 10/Coire Leis lines. They’re also very distinct batches.