Arran tasting with BCWS

Another Friday night and another @BlackCountryWS lockdown virtual tasting!.

This time is was with @Arranwhisky distillery.

The Arran distillery was built in 1994 by a former director of Chivas called Harold Currie,  the first spirit flowing in June 1995,

Arran produce a range of aged, NAS and limit edition malts and blends.

The new make spirit is matured at the on-site warehouse then bottled on the mainland.

 

We each paid £30 for 6 x 25ml samples, delivered.

On the night a Zoom session was organised with Mariella Romano (@arranwhiskymari) leading us through the tasting, sharing insights into the distillery and it's whiskey.

What did we try:

My brief thoughts on the drams:

Arran 18yo, 46%, refill sherry then 9m 1st fill oloroso

Nose: Cola cubes, dried fruit, berries, dark chocolate; Palate: orange peel, icing sugar, dark chocolate; Finish: dry spicy and chocolatey.

 

Arran 21yo, 46%, 1998 refill sherry hogsheads

Nose: orchard fruit, spicy, nutty; Palate: Spicy citrus, dark chocolate, fresh ginger; Finish: Long spicy oak.

Arran The Côte-Rôtie Finish, 50%, 7-8 yrs ex-bourbon then 9mths 1st fill red wine casks from southern France

Nose: fresh red berries, cereal notes, milk chocolate; Palate: sweet berries, icing sugar, dark chocolate, cherries, spicy ginger; Finish: long fruity notes, a little oak and a big bite of spice.

Arran 2008 11yo Single Cask #273 (Moscatel), 60.4%

Nose: ABV bites on this one, orchard fruit, a little dried fruit and vanilla; Palate: sweet honey, orchard fruit, very drying icing sugar; Finish: short sweet.

Arran Devil's Punch Bowl - Chapter II - Angels and Devils, 53.1% 27 casks from 1997-2004, 17 sherry, 6 ex-bourbon & 4 peated ex-bourbon

Nose: Dark chocolate, dried fruit, orchard fruit and gentle smoke; Palate: sweet tropical fruit, bbq smoke, honey; Finish: short sweet, fruity.

Arran Heavily Peated - Rum Cask Finish, 57.2% 50ppm ex-bourbon finished for 1yr in a rum cask

Nose: bbq smoke, salinity, orchard fruit; Palate: spicy pepper, sweet smoke, seaweed; Finish: lingering sweet smoke.

Many thanks to Martin, Mark & Rich at BCWS for organising, Mariella for running the tasting and the rest of the tasters for an enjoyable night. Our final pick for the best of the night went to the Heavily Peated Rum Cask finish.

Arran Distiller's new distillery at Lagg has recently started distilling their heavily peated expressions, based on what we tried tonight the are well worth waiting for!

Photos: Arran Distillers