Ben Nevis 1996-2020 (The Whisky Agency) TWA Spring 2020 Release [Tasted #584]

If you follow us on @TimeforWhisky on Instagram, you might know I'm a massive Ben Nevis fan, especially casks from the mid to late 1990s. For some reason I haven't posted many on the blog, but when reading through some old tasting notes (at least 400 of which I've never gotten around to posting!), I came across this 1996 Ben Nevis from The Whisky Agency, which ticked all the right boxes for me.

TWA releases are usually pretty high quality (sadly with price tags to match on the secondary market), so I was pretty confident this 1996 Ben Nevis (from a Hogshead) would be too, despite the lower ABV of 47.6%.

I wasn't disappointed...

The Whisky Agency Ben Nevis 1996-2020 (TWA Spring 2020 Release) (47.6% ABV, 23yo, 1 of 264 bottles, Highlands, Scotland, no longer available)

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Colour: Light yellow gold

Nose: Oooh yes, this is what I love in a Nevis. A tropical fruitbomb (or "Tropic Thunder" / "TT") Nevis! Peach, pear, rockmelon, overripe apples and bananas. Just awesome.

Palate: Passionfruit, peach and plum. A slight herbal-spiced earthiness, with some waxed Apple. Very much a typical 1996 Nevis, with a good dollop of tropical fruit on top.

Finish: Passionfruit and peach continue, with a residual vanilla cream. No residual oak tannins.

Rating (on my very non-scientific scale): 92/100. Just absolutely delicious.

I really need to get onto these as they're released more often...

Cheers,

Martin.