Some friends made me jokes during the last Twitch lives about tasting J&B’s or Clan Campbell’s during a future session so here I am with my personal J&B… Jura & Ben nevis!
Isle of Jura 30yo 1990-2020 (46.33%, Thompson Brothers, Refill American Oak Hogshead, 186 bottles)
Colour: Light gold with copper hues.
Nose: delicate and aerial peat, iodine, sea salt, brine, passion fruits, mineral notes, herbal notes, chalk, leather, lime, lemon peels and waxy notes.
Mouth: The alcohol integration is perfect and the texture is very oily. Delicate and aerial peat, a lot of ripe passion fruits and mangoes, the perfect balance between acidity and roundness. Herbal notes, lemons and pine wood adding a delicious freshness mixing perfectly with the chalk and mineral notes of the the end of the mouth. Very complex and multi-layered mouth.
Finish: Long. A lot of waxy and mineral notes, hints of lemons peels and pine wood freshness.
The best Jura I ever tasted, it’s powerful, complex, balanced and perfectly integrated. All of it mixed with the peaty/fruity/waxy/mineral profile made it a solid pick for sure. What a nice dram!
Out of stock of course!
Score: 92
Isle of Jura 30yo 1990-2020 (49.7%, Whisky Sponge, Refill Hogshead, 217 bottles)
Colour: Light gold with copper hues.
Nose: It’s way rounder with pastry notes, cookie dough, acacia honey, hints of aerial peat, lemon peels and finaly wood smoke with sea salt arrives and never leaves.It’s also more shy but still balanced.
Mouth: The alcohol integration is perfect and the texture is very oily. No more minerality or austerity, here the profile is rounder and less complex. Acacia honey, aerial peat with lemon peels, wood smoke, sea salt, iodine, pastry, fresh exotic fruits, yellow fruits, white pepper, cinnamon and cookie dough.
Finish: Long. Quite in harmony with the mouth. The end of the mouth leans towards white pepper and spices.
It’s less complex than the first one but I still like it very much, and it’s very easy to drink.
Out of stock of course!
Score: 91
Ben Nevis 22yo 1998-2020 (54.4%, Hidden Spirits, Second Fill Sherry Butt, cask #BN9820, 208 bottles)
Colour: Deep copper with lighter hues.
Nose: No alcohol presence. It seems to be a spicy sherry profile. Leather, bitter chocolate, orangette, candied orange, cigar box, old dusty books and shy hints of mineral notes. It’s round and not very complex.
Mouth: The alcohol integration is quite good but the alcohol notes are present and the texture is very oily. It’s still round, spicy and sherried. Bitter chocolate, leather, plums, old dusty library, old noble wood, bitter cocoa and candied orange.
Finish: Similar to the mouth with also some hints of chalk and mineral notes but it’s quite shy and the roundness still dominates the profile.
It’s very good but I was expecting way more from this one, mostly the presence of some typical Ben Nevis distillate notes as chalk or minerality.
Out of stock of course!
Score: 89
It was a pretty nice J&B line-up isn’t it? Those 3 bottles were very good. The Ben Nevis disappointed me a bit, I was expecting something more distillate oriented, but it was still very good.
The only problems remaining are the price of those bottles which skyrocketed… Ah flippers.
Tasting Bro's 