.arran - that boutique-y whisky company - batch 4

One of my favourite distilleries at this moment, Arran, tucked away behind door number 11 of Drinks by the Dram Whisky Advent Calendar 2015. One of their sister company's own bottling line no less...

.arran - 14yo - twe exclusive

Our friend Billy from the Whisky Exchange, provided us with some samples of whisky all exclusive for sale at the Whisky Exchange shop, among which this beautiful 14yo ex-bourbon barrel matured Arran whisky.

.the arran - white stag - first release

Coming of age in May, after which she will be bottled to be 18yo at the release in June 2015, during the Arran festival. It will be a special bottling for the Arran White Stag Ambassador programme, chosen by their tasting panel. She has matured in a refilled ex-Oloroso hogshead and will only give 214 bottles worldwide.

.the arran - premium single bourbon cask - #99/130

Once in a while a cask of whisky seems to stand out so much, it would be a shame to marry it off and lose it in a larger batch of whisky. In such case, a sack gets special treatment and is bottled on it's own and released as a premium single cask with the Arran distillery. In case of cask number 1999/130, there were only 164 bottles left to be sold at the distillery's Visitors Centre.

.the arran - 18yo - first release

Starting with the first official 16yo two years ago, followed by the 17yo last year, now the Arran have released their first official 18yo. As with her predecessors, she has matured in a selection of ex-Sherry casks and is bottles in a limited release of only 9000 bottles. Unlike the previous two, the plans for the 18yo are to remain in the core range, albeit in a (most likely) different cask composition. Rumour has it that there are plans for a similar 21yo in three years time...

.the arran - sauternes cask finish

Originally she started her maturation for about eight years in [most likely] refill ex-Bourbon casks, after which she received an extra period of [undetermined] months in an ex-Sauternes sweet white Bordeaux dessert wine cask.

.arran - 18yo - old particular

From the lovely Isle of Arran distillery, cared for and matured in a dark corner of Douglas Laing's warehouse for eighteen long years, a sweet, very sweet dram. One to get to know, perhaps..?

.the arran - devils punchbowl - chapter 3

The third and final chapter of the Arran Malt's The Devil's Punchbowl trilogy called "The Fiendish Finale", which shall be released on the 30th of July 2014. As with the previous chapters, the whisky is put together from a series of hand picked casks, this time consisting of eight ex-Sherry butts, eight French Oak Barriques and five ex-Bourbon barrels. In the previous editions there was a certain quantity of peated casks, but these have been omitted for this version.

.the arran - 17yo

46% abv, €70, single malt, non-chill filtered, natural colour

Nose: sweet, warm apples, citrus, full-ripe tangerine peel, sweet lime-juice, cinnamon, a hint of star-anise
Palate: sweet, cinnamon, dried fruit, plums, apricots, dark chocolate, citrus, orange zest
Finish: medium long, semi-dry, sweet, slight marmalade like bitter
Mark: ++++/+

.the arran - miss black

51.6% abv, €85, single malt, non-chill filtered, natural colour, single cask, cask strength

Nose: wood-chips, a hint of sulphur, sweet, honey, floral, obvious Sherry, raisins, old fashioned hard liquorice
Palate: sweet and dry, fruity, dried fruits, raisins, spicy, white pepper, stone fruits, mango, dark red cherries, a hint of sulphur, liquorice-root, cocoa
Finish: thick, mouth coating, spicy, layer-cake, fruity, dark ripe cherries, liquorice root, dry, a slight metallic hint
Mark: ++++/+

.the arran - 10yo

46% abv, €30, single malt, non-chill filtered, natural colour

Nose: sweet, vanilla, citrus, floral, tangerines and limes
Palate: sweet, vanilla, sour grapes, green banana, dry, citrus, limes, unripe oranges, orange-zest and sour grape-fruits
Finish: gentle, grapes, vanilla, citrus, dry, medium long
Mark: +++/++

.the arran - 1997 - càrn mòr

photo from
whiskybase.com

46% abv, €35, single malt, non-chill filtered, natural colour

Nose: sweet, fruit, soft red apples, citrus, sweet oranges, sweet ripe pineapple, caramel, red fruit, berries, fresh cranberries, fresh herbs, sage, parsley
Palate: sweet, fresh fruit, apples, pears, caramel, red fruit, berries, strawberries
Finish: sweet, herbal, sage, long, gentle, toffee
Mark: ++++/+

Conclusion: Typical sweet Arran nose, palate and finish. I would buy another bottle if it were still available (for a reasonable price). As goes with typical Arran sweetness, you either love it or you loathe it - because of the overly sweet character.

More info: Càrn Mòr Stricktly Limited Edition is a series of bottlings from the Scottish Liqueur Centre featuring singles malt whiskies from selected distilleries throughout Scotland, bottled at 46%, non chill-filtered and without any caramel colouring added. Càrn (cairn) is Gaelic for "heap of stones" or "round rocky hill"and Mòr is "large" or "great", giving a translation of "great heap of stones" or something like that.

At the point of bottling, this Arran was one of the older whiskies from this distillery that was bottled, since the distillery has only opened in 1995. Their oldest official bottling in 2012 was "only" 14 years old.

Distilled in 1997, matured in hogsheads, bottled in 2012 into 690 bottles from 2 casks.

.the arran - 100 proof

46% abv, single malt, non-chill filtered, natural color

Nose: medicinal at first, very feint, lemon peel, vanilla, hints of wood, citrus, blood oranges, red grapefruit

Palate: sweet, citrus, yellow grapefruit, spicy, jalapeño peppers, vanilla, cloves, hard green herbs, sage, laurel

Finish: sweet, vanilla, fruit bomb, pineapple, sweet oranges, tangerines, etc…

Mark: +++++

Conclusion: Not such a nice nose at first, but that gets better after a while. Get out your citrusfruit vocabulary and I am sure it is in there.

More info: I would not have given it it 46% as it give a feeling of a much higher abv when you first try to get a whiff.

Tasted at the Arran distillery, as part of the tasting flight #5: Arran malts past

.the arran - icons of arran - the eagle

46% abv, single malt, non-chill filtered, natural color

Nose: fresh, sweet vanilla, citrus, lemon, gentle, smooth, beeswax, floral, heather, roses, toffee and a hint of ginger

Palate: sweet, fresh, honey, gentle, smooth, creamy, citrus, orange zest

Finish: fresh, long, vanilla, floral, heather, roses, orangezest, honey

Mark: ++++/+

Conclusion: Very nice light and sweet dram.

Tasted at the Arran distillery, as part of the tasting flight #5: Arran malts past

.the arran - icons of arran - the westie

46% abv, single malt, non-chill filtered, natural color

Nose: candlewax, feint, licht medicinal, citrus, tangerine, fruitbowl, sweet pineapple, pear, oak

Palate: sweet, vanilla, fruit, very spicy, red peppers

Finish: sweet, long, heavy, vanilla, nuts, semi-dry

Mark: +++/++

Conclusion: very nice indeed.

More info: vintage 1998, this one is no longer available.

Tasted at the Arran distillery, as part of the tasting flight #5: Arran malts past

.the arran - machrie moor - batch #3

46% abv, €40, single malt, non-chill filtered, natural color

Nose: sweet, fresh, raisins, very light smoke, vanilla, red fruits, berries, cranberries, citrus, lemons, sweet oranges, tangerines, orange zest, golden delicious apples, mint, eucalyptus
Palate: sweet, vanilla, raisins, honey, flowers, heather, clover, tulips, hard herbs, thyme, rosemary, cloves, sage, spicy, citrus, lemons, oranges, light smoke, salty, fresh, light bacon, raisins, tangerines dipped in chocolate
Finish: gentle, honey, medium long, sweet, herbal, sage, cloves, light smoke, medium dry, slight bitter, hard herbs, laurel, rosemary, sage
Mark: +++++
Conclusion: very nice.

.part of the stone circle

More info: The Machrie Moor is a peatbog on the Isle of Arran with an ancient gathering of stone circles dating back more than 2500 years ago. There is a local folklore that the hound Bran used to be chained to one of the stones (picture: lower right) when he was not accompanying the the legendary giant Fingal. Personally I think it is an old millstone, but hey...

Once a year the distillery runs their stills with a couple of batches with malted barley that has been peated at the low level of only 12 ppm. The last couple of years they operate more weeks and with a higher ppm value.
Batch #3 has been released in a small-ish batch of 12.000 bottles.

Tasted at the Arran distillery, as part of tasting flight #3: Arran malts limited edition. Retasted as part of the Gold tour.

.the arran - orkney bere barley

46% abv, €50, single malt, non-chill filtered, natural color

Nose: fresh, sweet, sweet red apples, white eine, green tea, citrus, tangerine, vanilla, banana and hays
Palate: sweet, spicy white pepper, apples, citrus, tangerines, limes, sour white grapes, green tea leaves
Finish: late, spicy, white pepper, vanilla, tealeaves, tannins, medium long, sweet, apples, pears, white grapes
Mark: +++++
Conclusion: not really my cup of tea.
That said, we had a cup of tea before this tasting, so that could explain the tannins and sour tastes. If I meet it again (you are allowed to send me samples), I will try again.

Tasted at the Arran distillery, as part of tasting flight #3: Arran malts limited edition.

.the arran - 12 - cask strength - batch #2

53,6% abv, €35, single malt, non-chill filtered, natural color, cask strength

Nose: vanilla, toffee, citrus, oranges, lemon, tangerines, dark chocolate, marmalade, ripe cherries, raisins, gentle in spite of higher abv, acetone, fresh warm apple-pie, mint, eucalyptus
Palate: sweet, vanilla, raisins, quite late a sharp attack on the whole palate, white pepper, fresh ground coffee, dark chocolate, herbs, basil, oregano, gentle, smooth, fresh, mint
Finish: very warm, raisins, medium long, sweet, coffee
Mark: ++++/+
Conclusion: with or without water, both ways are fine. It gets a little easier after a splash of water, but there are not really a lot of different extra scents or flavours that get released. Good price too.

Tasted at the Arran distillery, as part of tasting flight #3: Arran malts limited edition, plus as part of the Gold tour. No real changes.

.the arran - 16

46% abv, €60, single malt, non-chill filtered, natural color

Nose: sweet, vanilla, gentle, fresh, toffee, beeswax, fresh fruits, red berries, blueberries, blackberries, warm, wood, oak, warm, herbal, citrus, hay, tropical fruits, pineapple, limes
Palate: sweet, vanilla, medium-dry, stewed pear, fruits, melon, spicy, caramel, citrus, lemons, limes, grapefruits, orange peel dipped in chocolate, white chocolate, green herbs, basil, oregano and thyme, sour white grapes, raisins, white pepper, honey, tropical fruits, sweet ripe pineapple
Finish: vanilla, medium dry, medium long, white chocolate, thyme, sweet, raisins, fruitbowl, tropical fruits, pineapple, floral, honey
Mark: ++++/+

Conclusion: well balanced, awesome

More info: this is an in-between-er, since the distillery is aiming to have an 18yo in their standard line next to the 10 and 14 year old expressions. Only 9000 bottles have been produced.

Tasted at the Arran distillery, as part of tasting flight #3: Arran malts limited edition, retasted as part of the Gold tour. Do not drink tea before tasting whisky, it fucks with the palate. A possible re-retaste coming up, since we are one of the lucky few that actually have purchased a bottle.

.lochranza

40% abv, €15, blend

Nose: sweet, vanilla, feint, acetone, caramel, sour grapes, overripe fruit

Palate: sweet, vanilla, dry, melting sugar, fruity, overripe sweet mangos

Finish: sweet, vanilla, warm, dry, sour grapes

Mark: +++++

Conclusion: good try, but too sweet for my taste. I can imagine this would do nice with some ice or as a mixer.

More info: Lochranza is the village where Isle of Arran distillery is located. Guess who makes the single malt ingredient for this blend (ding-ding-ding-ding-ding!)...