One of distilleries that Japanese people love is Ben Nevis, owing to the fact that Nikka (Home to Yoichi and Miyagikyo single malt) has owned the distillery since the late 80's. Just like Suntory owns some of the legendary distilleries in Islay, I can only guess Nikka wanted to follow suit, albeit this being in Highland.

Ben Nevis is also known to be the 'almost' highest distillery in Scotland, being couple hundred feet above the sea level. Not sure what it does to the aging process, but oh well, what can I say. As long as that golden liquid in the bottle is a good pour, I'm fine with all the stated facts.

Having said that, I was hoping to get a glimpse of what their whisky would taste like. Surprisingly I was told that 10yo is the only age stated version in their lineup, with older distillates being offered rather in a form of IB's.

I am fairly new to this distillery and not having tried any OB's prior, I can't say this dram I had 100% defines the unique characteristics of Ben Nevis as whole, yet I thought it would be worth sharing what I felt and how I liked this dram with you all. Anyway, enough rambling, let's get to the main point.

Details:

Distillery: Ben Nevis (Highlands)

Age: 5 Years (2018 Vintage)

ABV: 51.7%

Cask Type: 1st-Fill Bourbon Barrel + Amarone Cask Finish

Outturn: Not Known

Nose: Quite a bit of sulfur, little orange zest with cinnamon sticks. More bourbon-forward than what it is for a scotch! (Interesting) Strong hint of greek yogurt, peta cheese. After it rests in the glass for a while, there's also a bit of grilled mushroom, slight smoke and cayenne pepper.

Palate: Alcohol is quite strong, which was to be expected. Very sweet on the palate and savory, with the explosion of exotic spices. Cloves, cilantro, ginger have a clear presence, adding to the yogurt-like flavor of the spirit itself. Feels balanced for its stated age, but each component feels a bit separated.

Finish: Suddenly some overripe apples like cider, strong malty flavor, subtle smoke that backs them all up. Everything comes in an order and doesn't feel particularly 'unbalanced'.

Overall: It's an interesting dram for sure, but another three years spent in the casks would've stepped up the game for this "bound for nowhere" whisky.

I can't seem to find anything special to the distillery itself, nor did it taste any better than whiskies in this age range (5-8 YO). Stoaisha, Ruadh Mohr and Ardmore offered better taste for less money, at least in my experience.

Spirit is vibing, nice yogurt-y texture and fruit flavor, but I don't think I would spend $110 to get a bottle of this. Worth trying 'one' glass but not more than that.

Rating: 7.3/10