Lloyd's Whisky Syndicate N°6 - Ben Nevis

THE DISTILLERY

Ben Nevis distillery was built by Angus McDonnell in 1825 on the banks of the River Lochy, just outside Fort William at the foot of Britain’s highest mountain. Opinion is divided on whether Angus was a kinsman of ‘Long John’ McDonald (​​the 1.93m tall descendant of a ruler of the western Scottish kingdom of Argyll). What is certain though is that ‘Long John’ McDonald became a partner of the business in 1830 before buying it out the following year.

‘Long John’ had a penchant for advertising and over the following decades succeeded in turning ‘Long John’s Dew of Ben Nevis’ into a leading brand of Scotch present in the cellars of British and European royalty. However, it was his son Donald Peter McDonald who is broadly responsible for leading the distillery to economic success.

The distillery has lived through several ups and downs over the 20th Century before being acquired in 1989 by Japanese whisky maker Nikka (one of the distillery’s biggest customers).

The distillery uses a mix of steel and wooden washbacks and is the only distillery left in Scotland to use brewing yeast instead of the more common distiller’s yeast.

THE WHISKY

This whisky has been aged for 8 years in an ex-Bourbon cask. As is often the case with Ben Nevis, the whisky is surprisingly “rich” both in terms of nose and on the palate for its relatively young age.

On the nose the whisky combines notes of pepper, cinnamon and leather. Mineral on the palate with waxy, citrus and “meaty” texture. The finale is herbal.

This Ben Nevis is well paired with soft-ripened cheese such as Brie or Taleggio. It can be a great cigar companion too, better with fire-cured Kentucky tobacco.