Origin: Isle of Arran (Scotland)
Type: Single Malt Scotch Whisky
Strength: 50%ABV
Ageing casks: Ex-Bourbon and ex-Pinot Noir
Chillfiltered: No
Added coloring: No
Owner: Lochranza Distillery
Average price: € 80.00
Official website: www.arranwhisky.com
Vote: 85/100
In business for just under 30 years, Arran had a lot of fun, for a time, ‘playing’ with ageing casks. Experiments or not, the results have arrived on the market. Today we taste an Arran whisky which, after 8 years of maturation in ex-bourbon, spent 9 months in casks from the Knipser Estate in Germany and previously filled with Pinot Noir.
This is a 2009 limited edition of 6960, 70cl and 20cl, which is now impossible to find.
Tasting notes
The colour is a warm gold.
On the nose, the attack is citrusy, with grapefruit, citron and ginger that, together with a not-quite tame alcohol, generously tingle the nostrils. After a hint of freshly cut wood, there is a floral turn with rose, freesia and geranium. A very peculiar note of glass cleaner appears, flanked by fragrances that bring to mind straw and dried fruit (walnut in particular). And as the alcohol, minute by minute, seems to integrate a little better, we perceive a delicious reminder of lemon meringue, but above all of tarte tatin.
On the palate, the ginger, which doesn’t let up for a moment, is accompanied by yellow apple, a bite of unripe pear and a touch of ‘dry’ pastry. Here, the freshly cut wood can be felt a little more than on the nose, but, in the long run, it is the sweetness that prevails, with meringue, (almond) sugared almond and lemon cream. Like a late passenger coming up at the last moment, a nutty note opens the door to a warm, admittedly not very long finish, in which ginger, meringue and an unusual peach tea that leaves a pleasant taste in the mouth are the main players.
It is not our favourite finishing, and there must be a reason why it is not among those that ended up in the core range. But all in all it remains an appreciable proposal, because it possesses its own balance, does not distort the deepest essence of the Arran distillate and knows how to enhance its basic ductility.