Whisky : Ben Nevis 23 Year (1991), Signatory Vintage

Country/Region : Scotland/Highland

ABV : 54.3%

Cask : Sherry Butt

Age : 23 Years (Distilled 18 Oct. 1991, Bottled 12 Feb. 2015)

Nose : Tropical fruits, florals, and earthy spice. Overripe creamy tropical fruits: lilikoi, vanilla beans, guava candies, and soursop. Fruits contrasted with the vegetative decay of a botanical garden compost site with tangerine peel, ginger root, hibiscus petals, and a hint of eggshell.

Palate : Medium-bodied and oily with crisp notes of tropical fruits, florals, and vanilla. A faint creaminess underscored notes of guava, lilikoi, cherimoya, and bruised pineapple. Hibiscus tea with a mild spicy bouquet of cinnamon, pepper, and ginger. Mild astringency on the finish with lingering notes of tangerine sherbet, hibiscus, and vanilla.

Finish :  Lingering notes of tropical fruits and brown sugar.

Score : 6

Mental Image : Botanical Garden Soft Serve

Notes : I avoided writing up a review of this bottle for about two years. A buddy loved it, and I was just never that into it. While no off-sherry notes ruined the experience, there was a faint rotten egg, or at least eggshell, funk to this every time I poured a dram. No one else I shared it with picked that up though, so it must have been a mellow sulfur compound that just hit perfectly with some taste receptor or another on my tongue. Or, perhaps some memory of mine leads my brain to interpret the earthy-fruity flavors as having an eggy-edge.

When I sat down with the bottle after a year or so of avoiding it, I could see why my buddy thought it was more tropical fruit bomb than anything else. While this may have been a tad off for me, it left me intrigued to try more from the distillery. The final time I poured a dram, I did not get quite as much fruit, and the slightly tannic hibiscus tea notes stood out a lot more.

Overall, this was a delicious treat, albeit a bit weird for me. Every time I tried this, something a little bit different seemed to stand out. This Ben Nevis was a bit of a chameleon for my taste buds which left it feeling less reliable than some of the twenty-something Glenburgies I loved so much.