2025: a year in samples

Blowing off the dust from the keyboard and back in the whisky saddle. New year, new me and all that crap, but as for this wee whiskyblog on the world wide web, there may actually be some truth to it. Not much in the way of resolutions or anything like that, as I’m a firm advocate of the ‘Calvin approach’ – just wing it and see what happens, although a few things around here might change.  The long and short of it is that I’m all but drowning in whisky samples at the moment. 99% of these are/have been coming from fellow whisky enthusiasts as we’re eager to share and exchange stuff we tend to be excited about. Some are opened and enjoyed pretty much on the spot, others, most, in fact, unfortunately end up stashed away in boxes, to be enjoyed at a later time. To avoid that ‘later’ ends up becoming  ‘never’, I made a deliberate choice to focus most of my whisky blogging attention in 2025 towards these samples, as there are now simply dozens and dozens kicking about, much to the annoyance of Mrs. Malty, who would be a serious contestant for an Olympic medal if ever they decided to host an eyerolling contest. She's getting plenty of practice to master her technique whenever a new parcel with samples arrives, to say the least. So to kill two birds with the one stone, that’s what I’ll be doing this year, blogging wise. In doing so, I’ll have found a way to ensure these samples not only serve a purpose, but also I consider it a token of respect and gratefulness towards the people who went through the trouble of sending me, as they can at least be sure their samples will (in some cases finally) be opened, drunk and, fingers crossed, enjoyed.

Of course I would prefer reviewing full sized bottles over samples, as taking your time with a bottle of whisky and assessing it over multiple occasions simply has more to offer in terms of understanding and appreciating a whisky, and therefore has more merit and value, but I feel it would be ungrateful to so many of you to just receive these and do little with them.

So anyway, to kick things off, let’s start with a whisky bottled by Angus, who, as these things go, has proven to be quite successful reviewing whisky samples…

Ben Nevis 10 yo – The Whisky Sponge (2013-2024), 52% ABV, 324 bottles from a refill butt and refill quarter cask, app. £90 and still some available

I’m quite partial to some Ben Nevis – back when their 10 yo official release was still available AND affordable, I would argue that it could go head to head with some of the best 10 yo official releases out there – not having to shy away from the likes of Springbank or Port Charlotte. Unfortunately, ever since the rebranding from a few years back, it’s now easily well over £70 (€80) and quite hard to find. To make matters worse, I keep hearing that it’s lost some of its former grandeur… Indies to the rescue, then?

Nose

Oily and industrial, viscous and slightly dirty – workshop like, with a whiff of smoke to it. Underneath, however, there’s a sweetness from vanilla, white chocolate with notes of strawberry jam, citrus with  a savoury – caramelized bacon touch to it as well. Quite intriguing and quite complex.

Palate

That same, savoury – viscous mouthfeel, full of dirty/oily/workshop notes. The umami element translates more into notes of aged hard cheeses and farmyard, while the vanilla and creamy sweetness are having to work harder underneath all that dirty goodness. The casks do little to prevent that somewhat industrial and dirty spirit character from Ben Nevis from shining in all their greasy-oily glory, but what they do manage, is to tie everything together neatly, filing off the rough edges and getting rid of any possible off notes. This, in short, is right up my alley. Top notch!

Finish

Clinging, slightly peppery and eventually drying as it slowly fades out.

Final thoughts

If you like your whisky somewhat dirty and oily, chances are you’ll really love this one as well. I popped over to whiskybase to see if this one would still be available near me, but unfortunately that’s not the case. It didn’t really surprise me to see that quite a few weren’t all that keen on this one, though, and there's no denying the price tag is a tad on the salty side as well. Yes, it’s young and for those who like their whisky ‘smooth’, I can see why this one would indeed be a challenge. Taken from lesser active casks and quarter casks, gives the spirit free range, so to speak, and  seeing how Ben Nevis is known for its  full-on, robust new make, this makes for a complex, outspoken,  somewhat dirty but (in my opinion) oh so lovely whisky!

I don’t usually add scores to samples seeing how they tend to be one off experiences, but for this one it would be somewhere between 85 and 90/100, or ‘very good, indeed’, meaning 2025 is off to a promising start.