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Ben Nevis 1996 2013 Alambic Classique

Ben Nevis 1996/2013 Alambic Classique

2 January 2015 1 comment Article Ben Nevis, Highlands, Reviews, Scotland

Ben Nevis is not my favorite distillery so far, but this bottling by Alambic Classique is supposedly very good. I won’t get my hopes up too high, but will this be the first Ben Nevis that I actually like?

Ben Nevis 1996/2013 (57,1%, Alambic Classique, C#13304)

Nose: Dark sherry notes, think leather, tobacco, grinded coffee beans, cacao and varnish. Also some slightly lighter notes such as licorice, cherries, raisins and caramel.  There is some wood, but not too much. Nicely balanced nose.
Taste: A wonderfully sweet, candy-like palate. Cherries, brambles and raspberry. Some light spices, a bit of wood and a slight bitterness. Literally mouth-watering.
Finish: Sweet, spicy and peppery. Medium in length.

Rating: 86

Very good, but maybe a bit too sweet, both literally and figuratively. The palate made me salivate, but was also a bit boring. Maybe I’m nitpicking a bit here, because there simply isn’t much wrong with this whisky. I just don’t find it very adventurous.

What I can say is, that this is the first Ben Nevis that I liked. I think that is because this one has matured in a very active (probably first-fill) sherry cask, which means there isn’t much left of the distillery character. But whatever the reason, this is still a victory for Ben Nevis though 😉

Thijs Klaverstijn Kingairloch 3
Thijs Klaverstijn

Thijs is a spirits writer and accredited liquorist from The Netherlands. He runs the blog Words of Whisky and contributes to a number of Dutch and international publications.

Tags: 1996, alambic classique, ben nevis, cask strength, highlands

1 comment

  • Edwin Tromp 2 January 2015 at 17:10 - Reply

    This one i loved

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Words of Whisky is the blog of Thijs Klaverstijn, a freelance writer and journalist from Twente, a region in the east of The Netherlands. He's been drinking whisky for quite some time now, but a visit to Scotland in the summer of 2013 has turned his love for whisky into somewhat of an obsession. This blog serves as an outlet for that obsession.

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