Nose: Sweet vanilla, orange blossom, honey puffs. The honey is developed with a dash of water. Palate: White pepper on the arrival, which rapidly turns dry and almost astringent with young oak tannin as it moves into the development. Hot ginger is apparent as it progresses. The texture is not outstanding. A dash of water blends and softens the pepper and ginger notes, making them more pleasant and interesting. Finish: Short. The palate races into the finish with tannin as the last flavour. Water has little effect. A fairly average blended malt of no great interest. It has a simple profile and is not very attractive when neat. Water improves it but not enough to make it a recommended purchase. MacDonald's Glencoe was a well-known blend back in the day with 8 and 12 year age statements. Ben Nevis (i.e. Nikka) acquired the brand name at some stage and continued to produce it for a while, but there was a pause in production and I don’t know what relationship this current 10 year old blend has to the old one. Apparently this contains sourced malts from Speyside and I don’t know whether it contains any Ben Nevis at all. If it is purely a Speyside blend then I’m not sure why Ben Nevis has created it, and if it is a marriage of Ben Nevis and Speyside whiskies I’m just as perplexed. It seems like a pointless exercise either way. Tasted from a sample obtained at Ben Nevis distillery, 9 April 2025 “Average” : 78/100 (2.75 stars)