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Ben Nevis 1977-1990 - 12 Year Old - SMWS 78.2



Lot ID:
0526-311

shipping rate:
3

Total Bids:
58   

Current Bid
£205.00

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End Date : Aug 05 2026 08:00 PM

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CONDITION

Fair.

FILLING LEVEL

Into Neck

LOT DESCRIPTION

Ben Nevis 1977 - 1990. 12 Year Old. Bottled by The Scotch Malt Whisky Society. Society cask number. 78.2. 75cl. 62.4%. 109.2 Proof. No box.

From the Archives. ''This is a big, flavoursome, traditional whisky. It is pale, from what appears to be Spanish oak. The nose is strong and pungent and improves greatly with water. The taste is sweet and nutty, with a touch of citrus fruits about it. It leaves the mouth sweet and clear."

Distillery:  Ben Nevis

Distillery Status:  Working

Bottler: The Scotch Malt Whisky Society

Region: Highland

Distilled Year: 1977

Bottling Year: 1990

Age: 12

Limited Edition: yes

Cask Number: 78.2

Category: Single Malt

Country: Scotland

Bottle Size: 70cl / 700ml

ABV: 62.4% / 109.2 Proof

Founded in 1825 by ‘Long John’ MacDonald, Ben Nevis is one of the classic Highland distilleries. Ben Nevis was purchased in the 1940s by Joseph Hobbs, who fitted a Coffey still enabling the distillery to produce both malt and grain whisky. A mothballed Ben Nevis was sold in 1981 to Long John Distillers (Whitbread), who refurbished the distillery and restarted production before selling up in 1989 to the Japanese firm Nikka, under whose stewardship the distillery has thrived.

For much of its early life Ben Nevis supplied the famous Dew of Ben Nevis blended whisky and single malt official bottlings were sporadic. That all changed after 1989, when Nikka bottled a 63-year-old Ben Nevis 1926 and embarked on an impressive run of vintage single casks and small batches alongside a core range 10-year-old. The early Nikka bottlings of 1960s & ‘70s vintages are particularly highly sought after. Independent Ben Nevis is abundant.

The Scotch Malt Whisky Society (SMWS) began in late 1970s Edinburgh when founder Pip Hills persuaded a group of friends to chip in for a cask of Glenfarclas, and was officially formalised in 1983. Today the SMWS has members rooms in Edinbrugh, Glasgow and London and a string of international partnerships serving its 40,000 members. 

The Society’s whiskies are known for their unique SMWS coding system. Each cask bottled is assigned two numbers, representing the distillery and the bottling number, so 1.45 is the forty-fifth cask bottled from the first distillery and 33.27 is the 27th cask from the 33rd distillery.

Glenmorangie bought the Society in 2004, but sold it in 2015 to a private consortium who floated the SMWS on the stock market in 2021 via their holding company Artisanal Spirits Co.

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BID HISTORY

BID DATE TIME
Last Bids £205.00 5th August 2026 06:04 AM