Ben Nevis 10 Year Old 2013 - Whisky Sponge Edition No.85 (Decadent Drinks) 70cl

"This whisky tastes like cliffs and tidal waves. Please enjoy while wearing only a pair of hessian swimming trunks".

That's the recommendation from Decadent Drinks, who bottled this 10-year-old Ben Nevis for Whisky Sponge Edition #85. It was distilled in 2013 and aged primarily in a refill butt, before it was finished in refill quarter casks for around six months and bottled at 52% ABV.

The process for this one is really interesting as the brand wanted to "round the whisky off with exposure to more air" and to "manage the reduction from cask strength in stages". That meant re-racking the refill butt evenly into four refill quarter casks to expose more of the spirit to air, also enabling them to bring down the ABV slowly to 52% ABV. When you have spirit from a distillery like Ben Nevis, you want to preserve the distillate character.