A Scot on Scotch reviews a single cask single malt from the Ben Nevis Distillery in Fort William, bottled by The Golden Cask.
Long John’s Ben Nevis
Ben Nevis is well known as the highest peak in the British Isles, but it is also the name of the distillery that resides at the mountain’s base. Angus McDonnell established the business in 1825, but by 1830 it had been taken over by one of his employees, a man by the name of John MacDonald. Standing at 6 feet 4 inches, MacDonald was commonly known as Long John, and his name would be associated with the distillery for many years to come.
Long John had operated an illicit still in the area before taking employment at the Ben Nevis distillery. His move towards legitimacy made him a target for smugglers and other illicit distillers, and he was forced to defend himself on more than one occasion. It seems, however, that he was happy to stand his ground and fight his way out of a few sticky situations.
Through clever marketing, Long John established the name of Ben Nevis whisky. When he passed away, the distillery was inherited by his son, Donald Peter Macdonald, who rebranded the product, Long John’s Dew of Ben Nevis Highland Pure Malt Whisky. The brand became a massive success, and in 1911, Long John, by then a blended Scotch, was sold to W. H. Chaplin, separating the distillery from Long John’s name for the first time.
In 1975, Whitbread acquired the brand and reunited it with its spiritual home when it also acquired Ben Nevis in 1981. That union wouldn’t last, however, as Japanese distiller Nikka purchased the distillery in 1989, whilst the Long John blend remained with the owner, Pernod Ricard.
Nikka continue to bottle a limited selection of single malts under the Ben Nevis name, whilst also producing a blend called Nevis Dew, in a callback to the earliest distillery releases.
The Golden Cask
The whisky reviewed in this article was bottled by The Golden Cask, a brand owned by The Cumbrae Supply Company, aka House of MacDuff.
The Cumbrae Supply Company is a small family business based in Renfrew, Scotland. With the trading name of The House of MacDuff, it specialises in bottling single cask Scotch Whiskies under The Golden Cask brand, as well as Blended Malts under The Selkie brand.
Each cask bottled as part of the Golden Cask range is selected to represent the region and distillery of its origin. The whisky is never chill-filtered, and as a single cask, releases are always in limited supply. House of Macduff is aided in its selection of casks by whisky industry veteran of great repute, John McDougall.
The Golden Cask Ben Nevis Review
Tasting notes: Has a light, fruity nose. Vanilla butter cream with some lemon sherbet and a touch of sawdust. Breakfast cereals. Dusty grist. Quite a light nose, lacking in the dirty funk sometimes found in Ben Nevis. On the palate, there’s toffee and creme brulée. Werther’s Originals sweets. New oak and peppery heat.
Thoughts: It’s quite a young 8-year-old. The cask impact has been fairly restrained, and it’s the malty spirit that’s doing the heavy lifting. It even feels a wee bit immature at times, with some liquorice flavour that feels a bit new-makey to me. Water smoothed things off and dialled up the vanilla and bourbon character, which helped. Normally, it would be a good thing to let Ben Nevis spirit lead the way, but this one feels a wee bit dull. It’s not a bad whisky, it just doesn’t have anything exciting to say – and it really needs water to present itself at its best. Drinkable, but not great. Maybe it needed a bit longer in cask, or at least, a bit more of the distillery’s unique character to shine through.
Price: £45. Great price, to be fair. Especially for a single cask bottling, but a wee bit lacking in delivery, for me.
For more on Ben Nevis Distillery visit here
For more on The Golden Cask visit here
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