Almost 3 years ago I sat down to taste a few Arran whiskies, one of which was the 10 year old. I remember I was not a big fan of that expression then, but having re-tasted it a week ago as part of the #ArranWhisky twitter tasting (along with Miss Black’s and the new Devil’s Punchbowl Batch III) , and having liked it much more this time, i thought it’s worth brand new tasting notes. Not sure about the whisky, if it has changed in composition from then (it’s a vatting of casks so it must have, but not sure how much variation in profile). Anyways, let’s give this one a chance shall we?
The vatting of the 10 year old consists of 80% ex-bourbon casks, and 20% ex-Sherry casks, that’s pretty much all there is to say about this expression. It’s an entry level dram sort of but very Arran-ish.
Before we dive into the 10 year old, Let’s taste the origin of it all : The Arran new make which we tasted at the beginning of the twitter tasting. After all it’s the base upon all the Arran malt builds upon, and it’s always nice to taste new make spirit, from a whisky geek point of view, that is.
Arran New make spirit
Nose:Starts very floral, and grassy, continues quite fruity, with grapes, berries and some pear drops too. lovely, with a nice vanilla touch to it too.
Palate: WOW. sweet and fruity, with a lot of fig notes, very much reminds me of “Boukha”
which is a fig distillate sort of Eau de vie, from north Africa. vanilla, apples too. delightful
Finish: sweet, lingering fig notes and bubblegum.
A lovely spirit indeed! (no rating for new make).
Arran 10 Year Old , 46.0% , £29
Nose: Sweet and fruity, with lemony notes (lemon curd, lemon grass) , some stewed apples, and vanilla, and a lovely woody feel to it. creamy, and buttery. Text book sort of whisky. classic stuff.
Palate: Starts zingy, then getting sweeter with some vanilla, and stewed fruits. cooked apples, sweet dough and mint. hints of milk chocolate. with water the pepper and mint notes are amplified, and the wood also becomes more noticeable, wood spices too.
Finish: Pepper, sweet cooked apples, dough, chocolate and bitter nuts.