There are two Ben Nevis releases in the latest batch from The Whisky Jury. Joeri managed to bottle a lot of 20-30 year old Ben Nevis casks, but after the inaugural bottling all of them were 1996 vintages. Now there’s a 1995 again.
Casks from this parcel have been bottled for many years now. I remember there was some controversy among Malt Maniacs back in 2009 about cask #964 – some loved it and others hated it. Nowadays, with some extra ageing, I think everyone agrees they are excellent…
Ben Nevis 27 yo 1995 (49,5%, The Whisky Jury 2022, refill hogshead #960, 251 btl.)
Nose: typical sunflower oil, chalky notes and wet concrete. Then waxy notes, peaches and grapefruits. A classic mix of austerity and attractive roundness. Then white floral notes, hints of acacia honey and vanilla, as well as a hint of freshly cut green herbs. Now the real test for Ben Nevis is always on the palate, in my opinion.
Mouth: check! It delivers the juicy fruity notes we were hoping for. Lime, pink grapefruit, oranges. Hints of passion fruits. Subtle creamy notes (custard maybe). Then hints of pinesap and chalk again. Verbena, walnuts and mineral notes. A bitter touch of tonic water in the end.
Finish: quite long, greener, with grapefruit and a hint of horseradish in the distance.
You can’t beat the bright fruitiness of these Ben Nevis 1995 bottling – I love these casks. And I love the neck label that says Flip pancakes not whisky. In short, another very enjoyable Ben Nevis from The Whisky Jury. In fact a little better than the latest 1996, in my book. Now available from different retailers.