Let’s try to treat our Bennevissitis with three 1996s


April 23, 2026

Let’s try to treat our Bennevissitis with three 1996s

You know, Bennevissitis, an affliction that affects many of us and leads us to try to taste Ben Nevis as often as possible. Here, we’re trying a new approach: treatment through exposure to the virus, a bit like how vaccines work. You might say that with 1996s, there’s no guarantee it will work… Well, let’s reconvene at the end of the year to see how many Ben Nevis we’ll have tasted in 2026. In short, we’ll rank these three 1996s in ascending order.
PS: WF certainly does not encourage smoking.

Ben Nevis 29 yo 1996/2026 (42.3%, The Wealth Spirit, hogshead, cask #1398, 250 bottles)

Old malts at very low natural strength are often rather fascinating, especially when we are dealing with corpulent and well-textured distillates, such as Ben Nevis. Colour: white wine. Nose: do forget it. Old paint pots, brine and seawater, slag, saltpetre, sodden ashes… Then gradually, exotic fruits begin to emerge, mango first, then pink banana and papaya. The development is perfect and textbook, as though a film director had been at work on this cask. Perhaps the one behind Braveheart, since I believe the film was shot around Ben Nevis around those years, at least in part? Mouth: this time, a complete reversal, with exotic fruits arriving straight away, while ashes, oils, seaweed and waxes follow only afterwards. It is a touch less corpulent than others, though that will be the strength. Finish: medium in length, with a return of maritime elements. Pepper and salt in the aftertaste, along with a bitterness. Comments: more flawless than Mel Gibson’s performance in that movie.
SGP:662 - 90 points.

Ben Nevis 29 yo 1996/2026 (47.6%, Maltbarn, bourbon cask, 152 bottles)

What is that on the pretty label, micro-vegetation, or plankton under a microscope? Colour: white wine. Nose: it is more metallic than the first, with wafts of an old purse filled with copper and brass pennies and centimes. We then move on to hay and freshly cut grass, then paraffin, engine oil, but also toasted sesame oil, before witnessing the subtle arrival of vineyard peaches and mangoes, accompanied by grist. It is a little more austere than the previous one, but it is a magnificent austerity. Mouth: fruity yet a little more toasted. Gueuze, apple juice, guava, then green pepper and touches of propolis, with that resinous edge. The saltier aspects then begin to assert themselves, we cannot help but think of fairly peppered baked oysters. Finish: long and more herbaceous. Pine needles and above all some splendid old bitter cordials. That, we do love. Aftertaste distinctly salty. Comments: perhaps not one of the most extravagant Ben Nevis 1996s, but the finish was perfect. That is well worth one extra point.
SGP:562 - 91 points.

Ben Nevis 28 yo 1996/2025 (49%, The Wealth Spirits & Milroy’s of Soho ‘Future Legends’, hogshead #758, 120 bottles)

What do you mean ‘future legends’, when the BN ’96s are already legends of the present day! Colour: pale gold. Nose: this style we do love as well, it is more acetic, with apple vinegar, manzanilla, then crushed clay and natural Champagne, Selosse-style. We shall not say more, yet on the nose it is truly a ‘white wine malt’, which is the exact opposite of a winesky. Mouth: sharp, earthy, with cactus, mezcal, chalk, ashes, lemon zest, oysters, basalt, propolis… Finish: very long, more bitter, more peppery, more waxy, more perfect still. Comments: this is not a Ben Nevis for everyone. Right, let us drop that rather unsubtle manoeuvre, it is simply a universally appealing Ben Nevis
SGP:463 - 92 points.

I rather fear we’ll never recover. Proof of that: we’ve got a little bonus, no doubt quite different (vintage, sherry) …

Ben Nevis 21 yo 2022/2024 (56.1%, Signatory Vintage for Waldhaus World of Whisky, 1st fill sherry butt, cask #327, 560 bottles)

Ben Nevis 21 yo 2022/2024 (56.1%, Signatory Vintage for Waldhaus World of Whisky, 1st fill sherry butt, cask #327, 560 bottles)
Directly from the Engadin. Colour: caramel. Not meaning there’s any in there, mind. Nose: we had to expect this, the sherry dominates at first, with chocolate, coffee, leather, pipe tobacco… then, little by little, the distillate emerges from this shell, rather like Michael Jackson in Thriller. Right. The tobacco becomes more aromatic, the balsamic begins to hum, the walnut liqueur too… you will say that all this is probably also the sherry at work. Let us try water. With water: pure brown tobacco. An old pack of Gauloises or Gitanes. Or if you wish to be even more extreme, Gitanes maize paper (papier maïs). Mouth (neat): Mon Chéri, balsamic, pepper liqueur, tobacco, leather, bitter orange liqueur… it is also particularly thick. With water: it grates and sticks, but we like this very much, there is a lot going on, between old walnuts, ultra-dry amontillado, Seville oranges, and above all that leather side, always very present. Finish: long, on tobacco and leather. Slight touches of new rubber, this does not bother us in the slightest. Comments: it certainly cannot rival the 1996s, but in its category, it sure is a top trigger.
SGP:362 - 88 points.

Check the index of all Ben Nevis we've tasted