Ben Nevis

Drawing its water from the Allt a’Mhuilinn, a stream at the base of the mountain after which it is named, Ben Nevis is located in coastal Fort William in the West Highlands. The distillery was founded in 1825 by ‘Long’ John Macdonald and passed through family hands with considerable success until the end of the 19th century.

Following periods of inactivity, since 1989 Ben Nevis has been owned by Tokyo-based Nikka. Under Nikka ownership the distillery’s whiskies have experienced a marked upturn in quality following a period of somewhat inconsistent output.

While most of the distillery’s volume is allocated to Nikka’s whisky production in Japan, numerous domestic bottlings of this peated malt have been produced, either from Ben Nevis itself or from various independent bottlers (notably from Blackadder and Douglas Laing). For some time the heart of the Ben Nevis range has been the full-bodied and peaty 10-year-old. In addition, a number of noteworthy cask-finishes and limited editions have been released and continue to attract interest among Highland malt aficionados.