Ben Nevis 1996 Whisky Exchange 25 Year Old

Ben Nevis distillery was built by "Long" John MacDonald in 1825, and was so popular by the end of the 19th century that at one point the estate employed over 200 people. After a series of closure and re-openings at the beginning of the 20th, it was eventually bought by former Canadian bootlegger, Joseph Hobbs. He installed a coffey still there in 1955, making Ben Nevis Scotland's first dual-operation distillery, and began to blend its malt and grain before filling it to cask. Sporadic closures again followed Hobb's death, with stability finally ensured in 1989 when it was bought by long-term customers, Nikka Whisky of Japan. Its turbulent history means there were few distillery bottlings until the launch of the 10 year old single malt in 1996, but casks had long been making their way to independent labels, and many of them are very highly praised.

This whisky was distilled in 1996 and aged in a hogshead for a total of 25 years.

Speciality Drinks was established in 1999 as the independent bottling arm of The Whisky Exchange, which launched its online retail site the same year. Their first bottlings were under the Single Malts of Scotland label in 2005, followed by the Elements of Islay range and Port Askaig single malt brand in 2006 and 2009, respectively. The company was renamed Elixir Distillers in 2017.

One of 240 bottles.