It is composed of 22 oloroso sherry hogsheads from 1998.

Arran 12 yo 1998 ‘The Westie’
(46%, OB 2011, 6000 btl.)

Nose: fruity and slightly acidic, with sour cherries, orange zest and lemon sherbet. Something of a soda lemonade as well. Hardly any oloroso influence if you ask me. Fresh oak. Hints of honey. A few floral notes too. Mouth: a malty centre with spicy and nutty overtones. Again a zesty kind of citrus flavour. Growing warmer with vanilla, apricots and more noticeable oak. Lemon pie. Finish: medium long, drier, with leather and spices. Traces of mocha.

Quite a smooth Arran, this Westie. Fresh, fruity and convincing as a whole. The oloroso casks must have been second fill or rather third fill, because there’s hardly any sherry to be found. Around € 40.

Score: 84/100

ps/ There’s another limited edition Arran ‘The sleeping warrior’, 10 years old and released to help The National Trust for Scotland. It’s more expensive (around € 60) but it’s cask strength and remember part of your money goes to Scotland’s natural heritage.

Arran Machrie Moor
(46%, OB 2011, 9000 btl.)

Nose: the expected notes of a very young whisky: sweet malt, pear drops, some coconut. Artificial in its fruitiness. The peat comes second, it’s more of a mild grassy / smokey undertone. A few yeasty notes as well. Topped off by fresh citrus. Mouth: overly sour start (lemon), then some peat smoke, then back to sweeter notes like apple candy. Fades on a bitter (tonic) & salty (liquorice) combo. The palate has the same problem as the nose: it tries a lot of different tricks but none of them really work. Finish: now developing an enjoyable pastry-like quality alongside the peat smoke.

This Arran Machrie Moor is clearly not about heavy peat, it’s not about juicy fruits, it’s not about complexity, it’s not about balance… I fear this is simply a way to widen the range, like the wine finishes. I’d stick to the Arran Peacock or
Arran 14yo. Around € 40.

Score: 70/100

The Arran Malt

Establishing a new distillery is a tough job and the 14 Years old can be seen as a milestone for Arran. They’re now able to provide products in a slightly higher market segment and they can start making profit. On the long-term plan, the core range would be consist of a 10, 14 and 18 year old.

The 14 Year Old was re-racked into fresh bourbon barrels and fresh sherry hogsheads two years ago – two-thirds into American oak and one-third into European oak. They wanted the classic Arran sweet-fruity notes to shine through with the sherry very much in the background for depth and balance.

Arran 14 yo (46%, OB 2010)

Nose: starts malty and clean but quickly there’s a burst of fresh fruits: citrus, peaches, caramelized apples, some melon and berries. Nice hints of buttercups in the background. Hints of sweet oak with whiffs of vanilla and coconut as well. Cleaner than the 12yo, very rounded and really nice. There’s a nice interplay between sherry and bourbon influence (reminiscent of the Arran Peacock). It doesn’t need water, but a few drops make the citrus stand out. Mouth: creamy attack, initially less sweet than I thought it would be. Also more oak than expected. Malty centre with hints of citrus and pears. Obvious vanilla. Developing more spicy notes towards the end, nutmeg and light pepper. Finish: medium length, slightly biscuity with barley sugar and lingering spices.

The Arran 14yo is a balanced dram with a natural profile. It takes the distillery character to a higher level, and I’m sure we can expect even nicer results from this distillery as their spirit matures further. Around € 45 and arriving in shops as we speak.

Score: 85/100

Arran 1998 (56,5%, OB 2008, bourbon cask #700, 223 btl.)

Nose: clean and fruity. Vanilla with some honey. Yellow apples, pineapple and kiwi. Violet candy. Lemon marmalade. Very light oak influence. Sweet and very enjoyable. Mouth: good attack. Citrusy with hints of plums. Hints of cherry liqueur and peaches. A bit of lemon. Slightly spicy (ginger, pepper) with a bittery edge (liquorice?) towards the end. Finish: medium length, on creamy moccha and fruits with hints of saffron.

A solid Arran with a sweet vanilla nose. Not very complex but really drinkable.

Score: 84/100

I’ve tasted a 40% version of this single cask Arran, but the release currently being sold by Master of Malt is cask strength (55%). I’m not sure both are from the same cask.

Arran 12 yo (40%, Master of Malt 2008)

Nose: there’s a great maritime wave up front, that I’ve never experienced with Arran (a light sea breeze). It even hints towards farmy notes (yummie) that you can find in some Connemara, while at the same time integrating superb fruity notes like kiwi and lychee. All sorts of overripe fruits really. Marshmallows. Hints of spices in the background. With water some waxy vanilla emerges. On the nose one the most interesting Arran I’ve had. Mouth: the marshmallows evolve into rosewater lokum (Turkish delight, the candy invented by confectioner Haci Bekir). These fragrant notes take over the whole profile, up to the point where I wonder if I’m drinking whisky or alcoholic rosewater. Very uncommon but really enjoyable, alhough you could argue the complexity is very low. With water some notes of sweet pears appear, with added hints of citrus and barley. Finish: not too long. Still quite fragrant, even slightly perfumy.

Funny how a malt with a complex nose can have such a mono-dimensional palate. Anyway, the nose is great and the taste has a truly unique character. Haci Bekir would have loved this! Around € 50.

Score: 86/100

Master of Malt

Apart from their catalogue of regular whisky brands, they also have their own range of independent Master of Malt bottlings. Most of them are highly rated in the latest Whisky Bibles, which made me eager to review a selection of their offerings.

I’ll be reviewing five Master of Malt bottlings: a Bowmore, Arran, Tomatin,  Tamnavulin and an undisclosed Speysider. In the meantime, have a look at their online shop.

  
Arran 8yo ‘Pomerol finish’ (50%, OB 2009, bordeaux wine cask, 9420 btl.)

Nose: very rubbery I’m afraid, like wine finishes can be. Hints of cooked red fruits (strawberry) and cinnamon. Some blood oranges. Hints of vanilla and cranberries. Mouth: plums and oak. Again some strawberries with malty notes. Liquorice. After a while, big notes of ginger. Too much (new) wood. Finish: oaky, slightly peppery with hints of cereals.

A curious Arran. I still don’t get why Arran, Edradour or Bruichladdich keep finishing in wine casks so much. Apart from a few exceptions, I find the results rarely satisfying. Arran Peacock shows their normal maturation is much better.

Score: 65/100

This 1996 vintage named Peacock is the first in a new series called Icons of Arran. It’s a limited edition of 6000 bottles that came from 13 bourbon barrels and 7 sherry hogsheads. There has been a peacock called Albert running around the distillery since the opening.

 

Arran Peacock 12yo 1996 
(46%, OB 2009, 6000 btl.)

Nose: totally in line with other Arran releases. Soft but sophisticated. Hints of sweet honey with lots of orange peel and some grapefruit. Vanilla and coconut. Mint. Sweet apples with cinnamon. Overall very fresh and candied, with a slightly flowery edge. Mouth: clean and malty start, again fruity with lots of oranges and hints of spices. Biscuits. Apple compote and banana. Vanilla cream. Nicely balanced wood influence. Not very complex but well made. Finish: not too long, sweet and fruity.

This Arran Peacock is very round and polished and I have to say it’s one of the first Arran that really convinced me. A nice feminine dram. Around € 45.

Score: 85/100

The whiskies were interesting. Let’s list some of the things I’ve tasted. No actual tasting notes, the situation is just not ideal. Sorry for having some incomplete references.

Amrut Single Cask (46%, Blackadder 2008, ref. BA 2/2008, 279 btl.)

This one must be a sister cask of the one that won a gold medal in the “non-plus-ultra daily drams” category of the 2008 Malt Maniacs Awards (ref. 1/2008). Very good, huge fruitiness (peach, oranges, pineapple) with vanilla. Rather weak attack but quickly regains its strength, with a long finish. Quite complex, very balanced and nicely ‘different’ in style.

BenRiach 20y (43%, OB 2008)

Fresh and fruity. Vanilla. Some ‘dirty’ notes as well, hints of smoke and cow stable. Good Speyside whisky. I would like to taste this again some day, it looked like I didn’t get the full complexity. At € 65, excellent value for money.

BenRiach 13y Maderensis Fumosus
(46%, OB 2008, Madeira finish)

Heavily peated, but the sweet wine finish works well here and adds some fruity notes. Citrus flavours, coal, some salty liquorice. Smokey finish with hints of sweet candy. Nice, could be an interesting replacement for my bottle of BenRiach Arumaticus Fumosus which is almost empty.

Girvan 18y 1989 Raw Cask (56,7%, Blackadder 2008)

Girvan is said to be the most modern, industrialized distillery of Scotland. They are part of the William Grant group (Glenfiddich / Balvenie) and produce the grain whisky that is necessary for their blends. Lovely single grain whisky. Nice to have it at cask strength, it helps to show off the complexity which is sometimes lacking in this type of whisky. In one way or another, it reminded me of a Maker’s Mark, with added complexity.

Bruichladdich X4 (50%, OB 2008, 6000 btl.)

Nice bottle! Perilous whisky, distilled four times to reach 90% alcohol, and then reduced to 50% without ageing in a wood cask. Technically, this is not whisky of course. Tastes a bit like a flavoured wodka, gin or Mezcal.

The nose is not very attractive, there’s too much alcohol smell and not enough flavour. Tastes grainy with fruity notes and some cocoa. Also reminded me of a chocolate bonbon with a strong banana liqueur centre. Not bad, easier to drink than I thought it would be. But certainly not whisky.

As expected, the Octomore was long gone on Sunday…

I’ve also tasted a few bottlings of Arran (standard 12y, sherry cask, Pomerol Wine finish, 4y peated…). They were pretty much flawless and the pricing is fair, but still I always feel there is some character missing in The Arran. In my opinion, they are very good daily drams, but if a friend would drop by and I would want to impress him, I’d surely pour him something else… That’s the result of tasting lots of good whiskies at a festival, things have to be special to stand out. Sorry Jacklyn, you’ve tried your best!

ps/ Thumbs up for BenRiach and The Nectar, which charged just a single festival dram (= 1 euro) to taste any of their bottlings, regardless of the age or value. Some brands charged up to € 20 for a 2 cl dram (e.g. Port Ellen 8th release) which is higher than then the actual value of such an amount. I would say the main purpose of a festival is to gain interest, not to make instant money!