Ben Nevis 1998, Nanyang Whisky and REJO Beverages

Nose: half fruity, half mineral. Some pineapple, peach and lime, as well as tangerines. Then chalky notes, wet wool, light almondy notes. Gravel and leather. Light candle wax. Nice enough, and it predicts a fruity palate.

Mouth: bingo, a really good one again. Very waxy, with beeswax and candles, alongside almond cream and a greasy quality. This pairs nicely to peaches, grapefruits, guava and lime. Bananas too. Then a light hint of white pepper and a some bitter orange.

Finish: long, lemony and chalky, with a gritty element.

Despite the bitter edge on the palate, this is a lovely Ben Nevis. Plenty of tropical fruits, waxy notes and simply high complexity. Great whisky. Score: 90/100

A very lovely bottle. I hope you could effortlessly remove the label and frame it once the bottle is empty. Or, even better, before the bottle's empty (and stained)… Colour: straw. Nose: Ben Nevis in its purest form. No time to waste in conjectures, it is unquestionable. Soot, tangerine liqueur, olives, paraffin (but there's always paraffin in BN), porridge, pine needles, new sneakers, dirty mud… With water: empty oil barrels, turpentine, almonds, fumes, stearin, kippers (indeed)… Mouth (neat): these vintages, say 1995-1999, were just amazingly dirty, petroly, salty, very waxy, and pretty untameable. This is another perfect example. It really is a little dirty. Stale pepper. With water: chalk and orange zests. Not the most common combination, but it works greatly. Bitter almonds. Finish: long and leafier. Green tea and tobacco. Salty leaves. Comments: maybe it lost a bit of clearness and became a little leafy in the end, but we'll sure break the 90-barrier right tomorrow, stay tuned.

Colour: pale gold. Nose: ha! Much leaner and more mineral than the 99, on olive and mineral oils, sandalwood, crystallised honey, camphor and putty. This one goes more generally towards Ben Nevis' fatter and greasier side, which I'm not at all against. With water: brighter, more citric and again much more coastal, going towards some beautiful, bone-dry Manzanilla. Add to that some dried banana chips, ointments and dried herbs. Mouth: indeed, very mineral, nicely sharp, on lemon peel, putty, herbal teas, a much more brittle waxiness, stones, roast vegetables, soot, ink and camphor. A powerful and charismatic mature distillate profile, it just perhaps lacks some of the overt fruity glory of the 99. With water: big, bold, dry, peppery and superbly waxy whisky. Really a powerful and very 'old highlands' style that would probably be completely stunning with a couple of extra decades in glass! Finish: long, salty, peppery, bone dry and with a superbly powerful dry waxy note. Comments: excellent and perhaps even more singular and emphatic in character than the 99 in some ways, it's just that the 99 had such a devastatingly luscious quality about it that it makes this ones austerity a little exposed by comparison. But… but, as I said, 20 years in glass…