After too much time we get back to Andrea Ferrari and his creatures – Andrea, who’s a friend from those dark times in which he was just a blogger like us. In 2004 Ben Nevis – glorious distillery in Fort William – started producing the very first batches of peated whisky, and Andrea turned out to be rapacious and feline as only a medieval monster could ever be: he got his hands on a cask of peated Ben Nevis and he put it in glass a few weeks ago, without colouring nor chill-filtration. He presentend this bottling at the Spirit of Scotland fair in Rome.
N: Andrea usually wants his whiskies to be peculiar, and this makes no exception. The absence of alchol reveals a very aromatic profile… We’ll start from the smokiness, quite close to some smoked cheese (have you ever tried a smoked bufala mozzarella?), and with some chemical notes that reminds us of ink, not at ashes or burnt wood. Quite unique, with a sweet and sour side made of lime, kiwi, candied citron. Sweet licorice, a shade of vanilla, some ripe fruit (banana maybe) and Torta Paradiso.
P: we want to divide it into three different sides, that show how it evolves in mouth. It starts with chemical peat, burnt plastic, quite acrid, with ink and burnt wood (here, yes). Than comes the bourbon wood, with vanilla and pastries. The third side is made of a more peculiar sweetness, with sugared lime, lemon, an early kiwi… There’s a weird – but delicious – note of a smoked emmenthal – has anyone ever done one, by the way?
F: burnt wood, plastic and gum; acrid and acid, lime.
Paradoxically, it ain’t creamy at all, and the cask lets the sour side of the spirit shine – if this makes any sense outside our inner self, it’s 87/100 shine. A freaky tricky whisky, with a chemical peat well sided by a sober and sour sweetness – what more can we ask on a normal wednesday morning?
Reccomended soundtrack: Earth, Wind and Fire – Fall in love with me.
