Ben Nevis (also 'Bennevis' and 'Benevas') is located off the
beaten track in Inverness-shire. The distillery is said to have
been founded in 1825 by 'Long John' McDonald. After many
changes in ownership 'Ben Nevis Distillery (Fort William) Ltd.'
bought the distillery in 1955 and decided to install a Coffey
still for the production of grain whisky as well.

'There are some who would have you believe that there exists a kind of divine
secret, a miraculous ingredient or genius behind the manufacture of Scotch Whisky.
I however, acknowledge no miracle other than that which is worked when science
and nature combine. The principal ingredients are three, notably water, barley and
yeast, with a measure of peat smoke or reek. Of these there can be no doubt water
is the foremost. On Ben Nevis I was fortunate to find a constant and consistent
source of pure clean water in two small lochans. In order of importance, the second
ingredient is barley. This must be clean and plump, fully rounded and quite dry,
containing exactly the right amount of protein. Special distiller's yeast is the third
ingredient. This has the texture of dough or putty and is vital to the process of
fermentation. And fourthly there is peat, which comes to the whisky through the
water passing over peat bogs on its way down the mountain, and from the 'reek'
from the fire lit during the manufacturing process.

Well, I doubt if Ben Nevis still uses peat from the hill behind the distillery.
In fact, if they had actually used all that peat there might have been no hill left
by now... Based on the portfolio presented on their website, it seems that the
Japanese influence is significant. Just like Suntory and Nikka, Ben Nevis offers a
range of single malts as well as blends. They offer a 10yo and a 26yo single malt,
but several blends as well; the 'Dew of Ben Nevis' without an age statement,
the 12yo and the 21yo. They also offer the 'Glencoe' 8yo vatted malt.
 
Since Nikka doesn't own any other distilleries in Scotland, I'm rather curious
about the components that go into this vatting besides Ben Nevis. Nikka would
have to buy or trade these casks - as well as the other malts they might need in
the 'recipies' of their blends. Obviously, it's more economical to produce all the
neccessary ingredients yourself. Nevertheless, the Scotch whisky industry has
a long tradition of cask swapping - at least that's cheaper than buying those
casks. Hobbies like wife swapping and sheep swapping may have gone out of
style in the 1970's, but Scotland's cask swapping scene is still alive and well...
 
As you may have noticed, I've run out of useful things to say about Ben Nevis
by now, so I'll gladly invite you to proceed with the 'trivia' section...

Ben Nevis has been running smoothly ever since, although the new Japanese
owners haven't been able to establish such a strong brand presence as Suntory
has done with Bowmore. Nevertheless, Ben Nevis has all the 'ingredients' for it...
In the words of Long John McDonald himself (according to their own website);

John MacDonald, 14th June 1827

1) I've recently formulated a theory, based on the expressions I've tried so far.
More of a hypothesis, actually... The oldest versions I tried (distilled in the 1970's and 1980's) were superb while the younger versions that were distilled in the 1990's after Nikka reopened the distillery were fairly mediocre.

2) Ben Nevis is one of the very few distilleries that was able to produce a 'single blend' - a mix of malt whisky and grain whisky produced at the same distillery. That's because they had both pot stills and a column still at the distillery. If you find a Ben Nevis 'single blend' these days it's an oldie - the Coffey still was removed in 1971. The only distillery that could produce a single blend these days is Loch Lomond if I'm not mistaken.

3) Do you know of any more trivial trivia about Ben Nevis?
Why don't you drop me a note so I can share it with the rest of the whisky world through this page?

Ben Nevis 8yo 1990/1999 (43%, Signatory Vintage, Sherry butt #1376, 70cl)
Nose: Slightly oily. Hint of sherry. Furniture polish? Vaguely intruiging, but no sherry monster.
A little more smoke later on. Opens up a little with some water but remains soft-spoken.
Taste: Unbalanced. Not sweet enough at first. Slightly oily. Bitter chocolate. Quite odd.
Dull, dry & smoky finish. No soul. Breaks up completely when some water is added.
Score: 67 points - I wonder if anybody selected this cask on purpose?

Ben Nevis 8yo 1990/1999 (43%, Signatory Vintage, Sherry butt #1379, 70cl)
Nose: Grainy and a little grassy. Spirity. Faint wax? Some salt. A hint of smoke.
No sweetness at all. A simple and plain character. Like cask #1376, it's below par.
Taste: Soft & sweetish at first. A little oily, a little smoky, but ultimately uninspired.
Maltier after a minute with a bitter finish. Not a lot of fun to be had here.
Score: 66 points - another excellent example of poor cask selection.

Ben Nevis 10yo (46%, OB, Bottled +/- 1999, 70cl)
Nose: Furniture polish. A little fruity. Gooseberries? Some pepper and spices.
Very rich. Hint of oil. Nutty, not unlike 'Frangelico' liqueur. Better than average.
Taste: Toffeeish. A bit malty. Sweetish with a little smoke. Slightly dusty.
Strong dark chocolate. Orange peel in the dry finish. Touch of eucalyptus?
Score: 78 points - nothing to be ashamed of; a solid enjoyable OB.

Ben Nevis 15yo 1977/1993 (60.9%, Cadenhead's, D12/77, B10/93, 5cl)
Nose: Aaah... Lovely. Round and sweet with just enough fruits. Melon, perhaps?
Then organics emerge. Whiffs of chloride and dust. Slowly developing organics.
Taste: Smooth and drinkable at c/s. It becomes chewy with a few drops of water.
It feels a bit 'tickly'. Dry and slightly 'winey'. Flat, bitter finish. Loses a few points here.
Score: 87 points - highly recommendable. Proof that Ben Nevis deserves its cult status.

Ben Nevis 15yo 1986/2002 (62.7%, Cadenhead's).
Nose: Ah... A deep, rich fruitiness. Sweet sherry. The fruits slowly dissolve with time.
Then the organics emerge: horse stable, leather and sweat. Something metallic too.
Taste: Taken with very small sips it's extremely fruity and just a tad dusty perhaps.
Take bigger sips and you'll tastebuds will regret it - this is a real afterburner. Nice but hot.
It somehow seems a little more 'toffeeish' with some water. The fruits remain, though.
And interesting sweet & sour playfulness remains, lifting the score by a point or two.
Score: 88 points - that's 1 point more than their Ben Nevis 15yo 1977/1993 (60.9%).

Ben Nevis 30yo 1971/2001 (55.6%, OB, Cask #2516)
Nose: Rich sherry with a hint of coffee, followed by a mellow and musty fruitiness.
Sweet dough. Developing organics. Maggi. Spices. Some 'garden bonfire' smoke.
Cherry pralines. A real sherry monster. Sweaty - there's no other way of describing it.
It softens up considerably after some ten minutes, balancing out. Extremely pleasant.
Taste: Smoke and perfume in the start, developing into a fruity centre. Woody finish.
Salty? Not great. Eucalyptus? With some water it didn't soften up noticably.
Another oldie that shines on the nose but is dragged down by the palate.
Score: 87 points - the nose was worthy of a score in the 90's. The taste wasn't.

Ben Nevis 32yo 1971/2003 (45.8%, OB, for La Maison du Whisky, Cask #1846)
Nose: Varnish. Polished and a little fruity, growing more pronounced. Some apple?
Beatifully balanced. Mocca? After five minutes some gentle organics emerge.
It hangs together very well and seems to grow even better integrated over time.
Taste: Sweet plums, nectarines and late summer fruits. Dried apples? Toffee as well.
Good mouth feel. Very pleasant, even though it's not terribly complex. Sharpish finish.
Score: 88 points - one of the very best expressions of Ben Nevis I ever tried.

Ben Nevis 32yo 1972/2004 (47.6%, OB for LMDW, Hogshead, C#600, 116 Bts., D. 02/'72 Btl. 03./'04)
Nose: Heavy sherry attack. Caramel and a hint of smoke. Bourbon roughness. Rubber. Hint of spices.
My kind of profile, but it's fairly 'narrow'; very little beyond the sharp fruitiness.
Taste: Very similar to the nose; just what you'd expect. Again, fairly harsh fruits.
The rough mouth feel reminds me of a a bourbon as well, pulling it out of the 80's.
Score: 79 points - I don't mind a little rubber in the nose, but over time it dominates here.

Ben Nevis 34yo 1970/2005 'Single Blend' (50.3%, Adelphi, Cask #4640)
Nose: Polished but not very expressive initially. Developing organics with a hint of raspberry in the background.
Hint of wassabi? Major improvement, opening up. More organics. Hint of leather? This one definitely needs time.
Taste: Smooth and fruity in the start. Sweet. Weaker with a hint of smoke in the centre. Falls apart in the dry finish.
Score: 83 points - a very impressive nose but it doesn't quite cut the mustard on the palate. Woody. Cheap tannins.

These were not all the (official and independent) expressions of Aultmore I've tried over the years.
My Track Record used to contain a complete overview of all the single malts I've tried, but when I passed the 2000 malts mark (and the list wouldn't fit on two separate HTML pages anymore) I gave up. My Liquid Log still contains my tasting notes on most malts I've sampled and scored - but finding notes on a specific expression could be tricky. You might want to use the search box at the top of this page for that. The mAlmanac now contains personal selections of the best and the worst single malts I've tried so far - as well as the ones with the highest 'Bang-For-Your-Buck' value.

But those are all just my own, purely personal opinions. On Serge's distillery profile on Whiskyfun you can find another perspective on the distillery. Check out the Malt Maniacs Monitor on Malt Maniacs for my scores on all expressions I've tried so far - and those of almost all the other certified malt maniacs as well. The Malt Maniacs Matrix contains a few thousand single malts that were sampled and scored by at least four different malt maniacs, so you can compare our individual opinions.
 
 

When Long John Distillers bought back the Ben Nevis distillery
in 1971 they removed the Coffey still again and returned to
producing malt whisky exclusively. The Ben Nevis distillery was
closed in 1986, purchased by the Japanese Nikka distillery
from Whitbread in 1989 and re-opened again in 1991.

Once again, we are fully fortunate in that nature in her magnificence, has created
on the hill behind us, an ample supply of peat in our own banks to fuel the fires
drying the barley.'