"Again a very good Ben Nevis from 1996. This time, the tropical fruits steal the show with tangerines on the mains stage. Good selection by Whisky-Fassle"
(Photo from Whiskybase)
Third part of our Ben Nevis sessions, and again an independent bottling from 1996. In the previous review, I have looked at the number of bottlings per year in the 90s, which showed that 19996 was a particular productive year. Was 1996 also a very good vintage then? Again I turned to Whiskybase and as you can see in the graph below, the number of bottlings with a score above 87 was high in 1996, but 1990/91 and 1995 were similar in quality. Quality did slightly decrease towards the end of the 90s, while you should probably stay clear of bottlings from 1993/94. Anyway, let us continue to the subject of this review, bottled by the Germans of Whisky-Fassle, which in my experience often pick very good casks.
Nose
My first impression gives a gust of Bourbon vanilla with a slight dirty edge. An emptied that contained tangerines on sirup, metallic notes are in the back, and fresh nectarine juice. It opens into a more farmy side with hay, a summer day after haymaking. More tangerine and nectarine fruit juices, with copper. Did somebody use a copper spoon to stir it? Lemon skin scrapings on top together with a clear sense cola cubs. Interesting at least.
Taste
On the palate we continue with the main ingredient, tangerines, all the way. This has got a heavy bourbon influence, but stays very palatable. Reminiscent of dusty distilleries, old copper pots, and aluminium cans. The fruits make a successful re-entrance with more nectarines, we are very much in the summer with peaches, yellow cherries, and green prunes.
Overall
Again a very good Ben Nevis from 1996. This time, the tropical fruits steal the show with tangerines on the mains stage, but the farmy side and the metallic notes are never far away. Great cask selection by Jens!
- Review 2018-083
- Single malt
- Ben Nevis
- Whisky-Fassle
- 1996
- Bottled 2014
- Hogshead
- Natural colour
- Non-chill filtered
- 50.8
- Undisclosed number of bottles
- ±89
- Not available anymore
- Whiskybase #56913
What others say
Big thanks for sharing the sample
Scores
• these are my personal views, so do not take them too seriously… nothing beats tasting these for yourself •
- Tangerines
- Hay
- Metallic