Tastes

50%, non-chill filtered, no added colour Nose: Very fruity — white wine, preserved pears and peaches in syrup, chamomile tea, fragrant wildflower honey, and oat biscuits leaning toward yeast and fresh bread. Palate: A distinctly white chocolate-forward experience, perhaps with a pinch of salt. This is followed by acidic white wine with plenty of fruit, finishing with honeyed oatmeal in both flavour and texture. With water: Even fruitier — think oily, thick, fresh white wine. It’s taken me about half this bottle and nearly a year to understand the hype around this whisky, beyond it being the distillery’s first 10-year release. Before sitting down to write this, I planned to say it wasn’t for me. But time and air have really brought it into its own. I still prefer my Ardnamurchan with some peat — there’s something about that sweet pine smoke that speaks to me. I’m hopeful the two different batches of cask strength I’ve been holding onto won’t disappoint. That said, this is an excellent whisky. At bottle strength, it has an almost dessert-like white chocolate character; with water, it transforms into a fruity, substantial white wine profile. That versatility makes it excellent value and a very good dram. I’d love to get my hands on the new core range 10-year to see how it compares — especially to check for that peat note I enjoy so much.

46%, Non Chill Filtered, Natural colour Nose: waxy, jujubes gummies, poached pears, vanilla, walnuts. Palate: walnuts, toasted oak, barley sugar, creme brûlée and rich poached pears served on the side. This Indie Ben Nevis from Signatory is from 2 casks aged 8 years in second fill oloroso sherry butts, mine being number 34 of the bottling run. This whisky is very much flavour up front, it’s sweet and rich with not a hint of alcohol, easy sipper all the way. This bottle does nothing to hide its youth, while very up front with flavour it lacks depth and finishes in a blink of an eye. This is a very distillate forward and showcases the waxy Ben Nevis funk very well. Would recommend if you can find it.

ReReview 48%, Non-chill Filtered with added colour Nose: salt, cedar wood, dark chocolate, ash, extinguished camp fire - sweet, resinous woods like spruce or pine, with a slight bit of dark honey. Palate: dry salted dark chocolate, ashy, cedar wood/bowes, sweet dark honey with a pepper chilli spice tingle, finishing with a lingering sweet smoke finish. I would still classify this as a “gentlemen’s Laphroaig” which I do very much enjoy. It has a thick and oily texture and just screams smoked salted dark chocolate that is a great way to end an evening with friends or a black tie affair. I mentioned earlier that in my market this bottle is quite expensive and that still remains true. Looking at other markets - namely the UK market, I would have no problem paying 65£ to buy this again, and will most likely look to import it personally. 220 CAD at the local government shop is a huge ask, considering exchange, shipping, import tax and retail mark up from the UK is 70-90 CAD less than my local price. Price gripe aside, this is still a favourite of mine from Laphroaig and I will continue to inject its presence in my rotation of 10 year cask strength and cairdeas releases - albeit sparingly. It would be worth noting that I have had this bottle open for the last 2 years and it has not suffered from Laphroaig’s tendencies to go flat in that time, still wonderfully smokey and rich stuff.

48%, Non Chill Filtered, Natural colour Nose: Fresh lemon and citrus rind, cinnamon, boiled ginger sweets and a faint sweet and resinous smoke – reminiscent of spruce or pine wood. Palate: Creamy texture with a chocolaty and biscuit note – similar to chocolate digestive biscuits, salty and charred halloumi cheese with a lingering faint sweet smoke on the finish. I’ve quite enjoyed every Ardnamurchan I’ve had to date, this one being a variation of the standard AD offering by mixing madeira and sauternes barriques into the already excellent bourbon and sherry mix. This is an annual UK experimental release bottled in conjunction with the UK midgie repellent brand Smidge. I was lucky enough to be able to import this into my market in North America via a UK retailer. Comparing this to the standard Ardnamuchan AD which is easy to do since they are very similar, I would say that the added wine barriques add more of a biscuty sweetness to the standard offering while toning down the smoke. I do miss the peanut saltiness of the AD, which is very much up to personal preference. I would score these the same and it would depend if this or the AD is better depending on your preferences, I lean more to the savory side and I would side with the AD, but not by much both are excellent for the money.

46%, Non Chill Filtered, Natural colour Nose: heavy ocean or lake air, sweet peat, rich dark honey, caramel and florals. Palate: mild sweet peat, brown sugar, burnt caramel, baked ginger and an almost cakey, soft biscuity texture. This Ben Nevis whisky is claimed to be based off the victorian recipe that brought the distillery of the era to the height of fame. I like peat and I like Ben Nevis, this peaked my interest. I clearly like it. the bottle has “disappeared” and is nearing its end. I find this to be the least dirty Ben Nevis I’ve had and it’s definitely the least waxy one I’ve had to date, not a bad thing but not Ben Nevis. This is a very one directional whisky thats easy to drink, it’s one big waft of peat, the rest and then it’s gone, just like the whisky in the glass. It’s so one directional that when I was having a bon fire recently and the cold temperature’s chill striped away the whisky’s peat, as I find it does to most peated whisky, nothing else really remained. Which I’ve found multiple times in past, winter’s chill tends to exposes subtle flavours hidden in other peated whisky. This whisky reminds me of a Nikka peated whisky I’d had recently, it’s very clearly a cousin of Ben Nevis, but lacks some of the things that make Ben Nevis, well Ben Nevis. I would most definitely buy this if I wanted something from the distillery and my stash of other Ben Nevis whiskies has been depleted. I wouldn’t choose it over the 10 year old, but I would consider it over the coire leis and some indies.

55.8%, Cask Strength, Non Chill Filtered, no added colour Nose: cranberries, spices reminiscent of cinnamon and star anise, oak and cherry liquorice candy - in Canada we have these candies called Nibs and Pull and Peels made by the same company, exactly the same. Palate: oak, vanilla, cinnamon, cherries leaning on maraschino cherries, hazelnuts and sherry. Medium to medium short finish that is once again cherries and maybe a bit of plum. Unfortunately, I’m one of the select few people (it seems) to have a hard time finding Arran’s that resinate with me, actually I’ll double down on this and say I’ve also found it hard to find a 100% sherried matured whisky that resinates with me as I lean more towards bourbon matured and peat. That being said, this Arran is the closest thing I have found so far that tickles my fancy in both the Arran and sherried realms of single malts. This is an easy drinking, no nonsense cask strength whisky, its not a sherry bomb but boy is it good. Water doesn’t help it, at least for me and thats fine. It’s not a complex whisky ether, but thats ok its quality, drinkability and value definitely make up for that. I do think that hazel-nutty Arran spirit takes well to the sherry influence, I look forwards to the port finish Arran I have stashed away to refresh my memory and how it pairs with that as well. I would definitely pick this up if you’ve yet to try it.

46%, Non Chill Filtered, no added colour Nose: Citrus, sweet orchard fruits - leaning towards sweet juicy apple, sticky toffee, vanilla and stroopwafel. Palate: Sharp, caramel biscuity waffle - going back to stroopwafel here, apple, pineapple. Finish: meduim long, warming and more pleasant syrupy caramel and pineapple. I bought this whisky as I’ve heard great things at a great price, I certainly gravitate towards meaty oily and heavy texture whisky, in which this definitely is an oily and meaty whisky. I love how this is basically liquid stroopwafel, dutch waffle and syrup biscuits while acompanied by an apple or pineapple wedge. It has a delightful farm yard funk which sort or reminds me of the Loch Lomond but without the metallic over ripe fruit quality. This is definitely on the table for perma shelf status on my end, great price without skimping on flavour and quality.

46.8%, Non Chill Filtered, no added colour Nose: sweet smoke - reminiscent of pine smoke in the distance, fresh squeezed lime, chocolate orange being broken open, sea or lake mist with some plant matter. Palate: Sweet smoke up front, honey and oats, salted light caramel, peanut husks and chocolate. Finish: medium long, drying salted dark chocolate with some heathery peat. I ended up stumbling upon Ardnamurchan because I’m fairly biased towards Ben Nevis whiskies, for reasons yet to be discussed and wanted to branch out to something else encompassed by Lochaber. What I found was an oily, salty, “peanuts on the pier” whisky that matched up to the rugged funk of that mountain distillery. This is another fantastic value for money whisky that reminds me of being on the fishing boat, distant forest fires in the background and their smoke gently wafting your way. I very much like Ardnamurchan’s transparency and fair prices and would purchase this regularly.

46%, Non chill filtered with colouring. Nose: apple, orchard fruits, cinnamon, nutmeg and a faint wiff of smoke. Palate: Baked apple desert (something like apple pie or an apple Danish with a touch of lemon juice) large amounts of cinnamon, nutmeg, fall spices and a touch of ginger. Finish: medium short with a vanilla fudge and a subtle clean whisp of smoke.   I’ve had this bottle for almost 8 months now, given the time to breath it has changed from what me and the wife described as “fall in a bottle” to something more autumn desert. At first opening this was more, fresh red apple and or apple cider with heaps of cinnamon and a subtle bit of smoke, something that would pair well with a day’s outing apple picking on a cold fall day. Now, it offers a wonderful baked apple pastry with various strong spices, the fudginess that was completely undetectable at first emerges from the smoke that once hid it. This is a straightforward whisky that does everything the label says, quality is there with just the right amount of play to make it stand out. I have thoroughly enjoyed this one, to the point that I bought a second bottle before finishing the first. Price point I think Loch Lomond has done a good job of producing a quality mid range, age statement whisky at an affordable price, paired with how well it goes with the season I would say this could be a hit.

Natural Cask Strength - 64.3%, non chill filtered and natural colour. Nose: wood char, sweat floral peal ( this is what I would picture if I was burning brush that had a large amount of wild flowers) and butterscotch pudding. Palate: raisins, nuts and a dark chocolate cakey feel. Finish: short and slightly alcoholic. With Water: Nose: sweet butterscotch, honey and sugar coated orange soft candies. Palate: orange zest, honey and a slight dark chocolate bitterness. Finish: medium to med long more orange zest and rind followed by a faint sweet peat smoke….that trademark honey heather. This cask strength HP is intense and layered. This needs a generous amount of water to open up from its closed off self, I find myself using 1-3 teaspoons depending on the mood. Each time I sit down with this I wonder why Highland Park decides to neuter its core line, they clearly can make a whisky. Originally, after having this bottle, I was considering making a statement along the lines of “I most likely will never buy anything else but the HP 12 and the CS releases”. But after sitting on that, I’m inclined to say I would only buy these un restrained versions. I purchased this bottle in the states for 100 USD and thats a good deal for this, I can’t justify there other prices after having this. Lovely whisky if you like Highland Parks profile, but find the core line a bit thin or weak.