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History In A Bottle Day 19: SMOS Ben Nevis 1996 KWM Cask

Posted on March 10, 2026

This post is Bonus Content. It has information on one of the KWM Cask bottles that are featured on the back of our 2022 KWM Whisky Calendar box. You can find the blog post for the mini bottle for Day 19 of our 2022 KWM Whisky Calendar here.

by Andrew

A number of distilleries have a sought-after vintage, which outshines all others. Without question that vintage for Ben Nevis seems to be 1996. Ben Nevis has developed something of a cult following in the last 4-5 years and the reason is that it is the last distillery in Scotland to continue using brewers' yeast to start their fermentations. The distillery’s fermentation is long and in wooden washbacks. The fermentation creates all the alcohol, distillation then refines and concentrates it. So it stands to reason that the fermentation is critical to the profile that results.

Ben Nevis wasn’t much on our radar before we had the opportunity to select this cask. The reason why is pretty simple, there has never been much of it on the market. Independent bottlings are few and far between, and the distillery bottlings have never made it to Alberta. It doesn’t help that Nikka, who owns the distillery, have up to 75% of its annual production shipped to Japan to be matured and bottled as Japanese whisky. So to have the chance to bottle a full gorgeous sherry butt of Ben Nevis… that was a treat!

It got an 89pt score from WhiskyFun, and is averaging 88.38/100 on Whiskybase. I think those scores undervalue it a little, it was a big, gooey, sherried Ben Nevis with tropical fruits. The price was crazy, $180… an absolute steal!

SMOS Ben Nevis 1996 KWM Cask

Andrew's Tasting Note

Nose: Eatmore and polished new leather shoes; dark fruits; nutty with caramel, leather and tobacco; dried apple chunks sprinkled with cinnamon; woody: freshly sawed cedar and a dry-mossy pine forest floor; fig jam and pineapple.

Palate: round, rich and fruity; there is a soft silky body full of dried dark fruits: raisins, sultanas, date squares and figs in honey; dark milk chocolate and Caramilk; not quite molasses-y enough to be in Eatmore territory, but it is close; pineapple in sweet & sour sauch; honeyed and decadent with burnt caramel and maple syrup; the leather and tobacco move in with soft spices; sherried and woody but balanced in both cases.  

Finish: big, drying, fruity and spicy; the fruits and caramels fade leaving traces of their past glories; not as complex as the palate but elegant nonetheless.

Comment: this is a big rich and sherried Ben Nevis with a soft coating body; there is a touch of more tropical fruits, but it is the sherry tones driving the bus on this one; the nose is good, the palate is great; Ben Nevis has built a cult following among whisky geeks, and this is another fine example as to why...

Evan’s Tasting Note

Nose: Rich, concentrated, but austere. This noses like an old-school style sherry-cask whisky – not the sherry-seasoned fruit bombs that you are more likely to find today. Dates, stewed plums, prunes, raisins blueberries – the fruit is there. So are tangy notes of reduced balsamic vinegar, and cherry cider along with fruity tobacco, polished leather, soft cedar, cinnamon, and nutmeg.

Palate: Rich, sweet and tangy with a touch of spice on the tongue. Figs, prunes, blueberry jam, fruit leather, a touch of black licorice, reduced balsamic again, dark chocolate, espresso beans, and pecan pie.

Finish: Slightly drying but so concentrated and umami-like at the same time. The sweet notes are there, but not decedent due to the tangy notes that keep it in check.

Comment: I have not been a sherry fan as of late, preferring refill hogsheads and ex-Bourbon casks to age the whisky I taste – but I love this cask. It gives so much but still stays tightly wound in style. This isn’t your flabby, over-the-top sherry. This is big, rich sherry in a refined style.

This entry was posted in Whisky, KWM Whisky Calendar 2022, KWM Single Cask

 

 

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