The Whisky Jury Ben Nevis 1996 Whisky Review!

It's been a long time since I reviewed a Ben Nevis, about 5-years in fact, and my opinion of the distillery has changed completely since those earlier days. Which is all thanks to a few great independent bottlings, including this one!

Highland distillery Ben Nevis is not what you'd call consistent. Their whisky is the polar opposite of something like Caol Ila or Clynelish, which never really go wrong. Ben Nevis's spirit tends to be on the dirtier, heavier side, particularly when sherry casks are involved, although official bottlings now seem to be moving away from that heavier style. Ex-bourbon cask examples can be excellent as well, in the best case scenario they offer a very fruity and almost tropical style, but I personally prefer the heavier, more funky style of Ben Nevis that tends to come from time in sherry casks. Older independent bottlings of the make can be brilliant, again particularly when sherry casks are involved, with a plethora of examples available from just about every bottler out there. Official bottlings from the distillery are still relatively few & far between, with the long-standing but very inconsistent 10-year old joined by a second core range bottling in 2021, the non-age statement 'Coire Leis', named after the distillery's water source. Ben Nevis is named after the mountain that sits behind the distillery, and is located in Fort William, just north of Glencoe and about 2.5-hours drive north-west of Glasgow. The distillery produces around 2-million litres of spirit per year, uses wooden washbacks and a portion of brewer's yeast, with relatively fast distillation in four plain copper pot stills - i.e. relatively squat & wide-necked stills with no extra reflux devices - that feed into modern shell & tube condensers. That lack of reflux helps with the heavy, rich & intentionally "rough around the edges" spirit character that requires a good amount of time to mature, but it can pay off in the end when the right cask is involved. 

Ben Nevis is almost infamous these days thanks to its involvement with "Japanese" whisky thanks to owners Nikka Whisky who purchased the distillery in 1989, which is itself owned by Asahi. Even now with decent whisky regulations finally on the horizon in Japan, most of Nikka's products that are not single malt (so excluding Yoichi and Miyagikyo single malts) will contain some Ben Nevis spirit, shipped to Japan in bulk and bottled as part of many "Japanese" blended whiskies. More than a third of this Scottish distillery's production is exported for this purpose, and that's not likely to change anytime soon. The initial "labelling standards" recently put forth by the Japan Spirits & Liqueurs Makers Association only apply to their members (Nikka is one), and they don't come into effect until 2024. They're basically voluntary otherwise, and not legally binding, although that'll hopefully change in future. So Nikka is not doing anything illegal, and they're far from the only offenders here. A huge number of other "Japanese whisky" brands do the same, if they're even actually whisky at all by international standards, but that's another story. To Nikka's credit their official website now declares which of their products do or do not qualify as Japanese whisky under these forthcoming labelling standards, but as far as I'm aware they haven't actually changed any labelling as yet. Anyway, enough has been said about all that elsewhere, we're talking about Ben Nevis single malt Scotch whisky here. 

This particular Ben Nevis is an independent bottling from The Whisky Jury, a relatively new bottler of both whisky & rum that is based in Belgium. Their bottlings first appeared in 2019, with small quantities arriving in Australia from late 2021. All Whisky Jury bottlings are cask strength single casks, thus far mostly of considerable age, and their pricing is relatively reasonable given the currency that this sort of whisky commands these days. Less reasonable in Australia of course, but that's nothing unusual. Based on the three examples that I've tasted to date the level of quality in their bottlings seems very high, and all are non-chill filtered and natural colour. So let's hope we see more of their work down here in future. In this case we have a 24-year old Ben Nevis taken from a single 500-litre sherry butt, cask #1473, distilled in 1996 and bottled in 2021 at a cask strength of 52.8% ABV, with a yield of 354 bottles - those damn angels! Retail pricing was circa $600 AUD which is a tad on the high side, but is certainly not horrible given these specifications and the following that sherry cask Ben Nevis bottlings have. The sample for this review came from a fellow whisky nerd, unfortunately I've been sitting on it for a while now so the secondary market will be your only chance at finding a bottle. Let's see how it goes!

The Whisky Jury Ben Nevis 1996, 24-year old, 52.8%. Highlands, Scotland.

Distilled 1996, bottled 2021. Fully matured in ex-sherry butt #1473. Non-chill filtered, natural colour. 354 bottles. 

Colour: Bronze. 

Nose: Fruity, rancio & peppery. Dried & fresh stone fruit (plum, raisins, apricot), vanilla bean. White pepper & dried mushrooms. Dank old wood, salted roasted nuts (almond, walnut, hazelnut), freshly dried mango skins. Caramel fudge, touch of cured meats (i.e. salami) in the background. Gets both fruitier & more peppered with more time. 

Texture: Medium weight. Very fruity, spicy, sweeter than the nose suggested. Slight heat but pleasant.

Taste: Rum & raisin fudge, white pepper, and salted roasted nuts. Creamy mango & vanilla ice cream coming through alongside before it dries out to cured meats & dried mushrooms. Dried mango skins & dried stone fruit underneath. 

Finish: Medium-long length. Touch of dank old wood & dried mushrooms again before that bright tropical fruit & fresh stone fruit (apricot & raisin here) take over. Mango & vanilla ice cream, salted roasted nuts (particularly walnut here), and white pepper rounding things out. 

Score: 4 out of 5. 

Notes: Very, very good! Thanks to a brief previous encounter I already had an inkling that it was a great Ben Nevis, and looking at it more closely and unencumbered definitely confirms that. What's interesting is that it's a mix of both the earthier, dirtier, spicier style and the brighter, tropical fruit style, and I don't recall getting both styles in the same dram before. While it does lean a little towards the former, maybe the sherry butt was a second fill, or maybe it was just a bit slow off the mark. Either way, it's a good thing! 

This Ben Nevis is a little rough around the edges, even after nearly a quarter-century of maturation, but it's rough around the edges in an endearing, characterful way, given how much flavour it's packing. That's a great description to sum up many of the heavier unpeated malts, and it's why many of them have such a cult following among the enthusiasts. Ben Nevis included!

Cheers!