McDonald's Celebrated Traditional Ben Nevis Whisky 70cl

I wish I knew enough about scotch to be able to describe how this tastes exactly, but all I can say from my position as a layman, is that this is my fave. I love a peaty Islay, and I like the sweeter tastes of Speyside. This for me strikes a balance between the two, and although I don't see this in the other reviews here or in the tasting notes, I feel like this is the perfect scotch. It just tastes like Scotland.

Reportedly, the distillery that makes this are the last remaining distiller to use brewers yeast. As whisky is 'concentrated beer' this should come as no surprise to those who know it is a way of maintaining flavour-profile whilst avoiding 'cluttered' and unpredictable fruity esters. I am an old Baker-by-trade and understand the mutations of various fermentations including sour-dough culture. I digress. Lovely to note the natural "lemon-water" colour of this whisky and the generous proportion of of older material added to the mix. Well done!

Best whiskey I've had (from a non whiskey lover) really does taste as it says on the bottle, salty cream... so good.

A wonderfully peaty whisky which is full of flavour. I went to the distillery this year and tried it on their tour and fell in love with it. Absolute quality in a bottle made in a very traditional way.

Just re-sampled another "long"- not squat (older version?) , but corked, not screwcap, bottle of this fine distillation. (They do vary in colour!) Sure they muck around with various casks and length of maturing... but the bottom line is - quality!

Good.

Heavenly stuff!!!

What is it - "McDonalds" or "MacDonalds"? Even the label on the bottle is ambiguous as at the top the surname doesn't match the signature! Getting to the fluid... Ok, this is a definite improvement on earlier bottlings which I believe is across the board for this distillery; this drop is very good and just nicely peated with a smoothness and mellowness defying its approx. 5-13 age.

TOO...... PEATY ! [read: sooty] In my opinion for a non Island / Islay Scotch, heck, even most of them are moderate in this department. Maybe in 1882 this was considered the norm (from what was available) but today I would say, 20% of whisky imbibers would find this satisfying. Some pleasant malty overtones, but other than that I find it good for blending with diametrically opposed Whisky!

It is NOT a re - creation of the founder 'LONG JOHN' MacDonald - rather possibly a version of his son - Donald MacDonald - as his father died in 1856 . Anyway, not a bad drop