We've tried and earlier expression back in 2013 and were not totally flabbergasted, but it was good (WF 83). Colour: white wine. Nose: more peat than I remembered. Dirt and scoria, gravel, soot, old stove, apple peelings and last year's walnuts. Definitely kind of metallic as well. Then ripe plums, tartes and cakes. A little brine too, capers… Mouth: hold on, this is good. More dirt and soot, ashes, kippers, green apples, some grist and flour, perhaps a tiny olive, seashells… It's peatier than I remembered. Finish: good length, with a little vanilla coating it. A grassy peatiness and some pepper and coconut in the aftertaste. Comments: probably a little young (that coconut) but the spirit is pretty vigorous, hale and hearty. And peaty.
Malt Fascination (85)
.com
In a recent sample exchange, Tom chucked in a sample of this Ben Nevis NAS. In recent years this distillery has become much more popular up to a level that their regular 10 years old is more often sold out than it is available.
Only one small step ‘below’ it is the MacDonald’s Traditional and it’s only a step below it because it’s a NAS whisky. The price is about the same, and maybe that’s why this is quite easy to get hold of.
Let’s just dive in, and see where this one lands.
Sniff:
It’s quite malt forward, with a crisp scent behind it. Slate, snow, moss. Undercooked cookie dough, some vanilla and dried apple, and after that there’s a whiff of brown sugar.
Sip:
The palate is a bit more intense than a regular entry level NAS. That’s probably some peppery spiciness and the slightly higher ABV. Quite sweet with cookie dough and vanilla. Brown sugar too, with hints of barley.
Swallow:
The finish is a bit more green, with slightly more spirit driven and mossy notes. It’s also a bit less sweet with tree bark, ferns, fresh apple and pear.
When you approach this as an entry level dram, it’s quite a well done one. It’s not overly complex but is not just some random whisky on which some additional cask influence is forced. The spirit shows nicely and gives it a bit of richness.
So, a well done dram, one that warrants some sipping too.
