Ben Nevis Distillery

‘Long’ John McDonald, founder of Ben Nevis distillery, said that getting the right ingredients is crucial to making great whisky. Water is the most important of these, and McDonald struck gold on that front. From where it sits at the foot of its namesake mountain, Ben Nevis draws its water from the Allt a’Mhuinne stream originating in two pools of highlands water up the mountainside.

McDonald founded Ben Nevis in 1825, not long after the legalisation of whisky distilling in Scotland, at Loch Bridge in the Western Highlands region. He was later succeeded by his son Donald in 1856. The early decades of production at Ben Nevis were successful enough that a spin off distillery, simply named Nevis Distillery, was built in 1878. Though they shared close proximity and more than half of a name, Nevis would operate independently for 30 years. That lasted until the two were folded together in 1908.

In 1941 The McDonald family sold the distillery to Joseph Hobbs, a Canadian millionaire with experience in the legal and illegal sides of the liquor business in the early 20th century. Hobbs notably installed a Coffey still at Ben Nevis. This allowed for the distillation of grain whisky as well as the more traditional malt barley spirit. This addition was abandoned by later owners.

Ben Nevis suffered downturns despite heavy investment in the later half of the century. In 1978 the distillery closed for a period lasting six years. Joseph Hobbs Jr sold it to Whitbread in 1981, who Whitbread and in 1986 the distillery closed again. The Japanese Nikka Whisky Distilling Company acquired it 1989 while Whitbread was selling off its liquor division.

The distillery currently has eight washbacks, six of stainless steel and two of Oregon Pine, and operates four stills. In total it can produce up to 2 million litres a year. A small part of that, roughly 50,000 litres in 2019, is heavily peated spirit.

Under the ownership of Nikka almost three quarters of the 2 million litres produced each year at Ben Nevis is sent to Japan to use in blends such as Black Nikka. But a limited number of single malts have also been released since they reopened the distillery in 1990.

The heart of that lineup remains the McDonald’s Ben Nevis 10 year old first released in 1996. This fruity highland whisky has notes of peat, coffee, and chocolate that linger on the palate. It was joined in 2011 by McDonald’s Traditional Ben Nevis. This peated whisky is meant to replicate the flavours enjoyed in Ben Nevis single malt from the 1880s. In 2018 the distillery released a Limited- Edition Cask Strength version of the 10 year old. This Batch No. 1 was matured in casks of first fill Bourbon, Sherry, and Wine for a complex finish.