Scotch Whisky Review #319: Blackadder Ben Nevis 32 Year (1971)

Distillery: Ben Nevis.

Bottler: Blackadder.

Region: Highland.

Age: 32 Year. Distilled on March 23rd, 1971. Bottled in September of 2003.

ABV: 45.0%.

Cask Type: Oak Hogshead.

Cask Number: 1626

Price: $56 for 2 oz.

Color: 1.1, Burnished. Natural Color and Non-Chill Filtered.

---

Nose: (according to the wife) It’s super, super funky. There’s a bit of fruit up front in the form of apricot. Candied walnuts come through afterwards with a ton of molasses and vanilla bean paste

following in towards the end.

Palate: The first sip was really flavorful bursting full of funky notes. Notes of rich molasses and vanilla bean paste really hit the senses hard and it’s delicious. Subsequent sips lose a lot of impact though, in fact it goes pretty flavorless after the first sip. With water, a little bit of flavor comes back. Molasses, a bit of multigrain cracker, and some of this weird, funky gas note come through but far from the initial promise.

Finish: Fairly short. Old wooden bookcases filled with dusty old books is what comes to mind, but it lasts but a moment.

---

Conclusion: Every so often I come across a whisky where the only reaction I’m left with is “what on earth happened here?”. This is one of them. The nose is promising and full of a ton of flavor. The first sip delivers a little bit on that with a burst of funk, vanilla, and molasses. Every sip after that just ends in disappointment. There’s very little going on, to the point where I’d even say it might be flavorless. I shared this with /u/KissMeElon

and we both were left wondering what had happened to this. So much promise but ultimately a massive disappointment. Oh well, onto the next one.

Final Score: 79.

---

Scotch Whisky Review #319, Highland Review #59, Whisky Network Review #464

---

Scoring Legend:

• 96-100: The perfect dram, nectar of the gods.
• 90-95: Near perfect, there is something truly special about this whisky.
• 85-89: Amazing, will always try to keep a bottle of this in my collection (if feasible).
• 80-84: Very Good, maybe only one minor nitpick about the whisky keeping it here.
• 75-79: Good, quite enjoyable to drink.
• 70-74: Solid, wouldn’t go out of my way to get it.
• 60-69: Meh, still drinkable.
• Below 59: If you have a bottle of this, start cooking with it instead.