The Arran Works Part 1


March 5, 2024

The Arran Works Part 1

We'll do this randomly. We know Arran have used many different woods over the years, so random should be funnier, you never know what you'll stumble upon… Perhaps even Champagne, as some friend reminded us on Facebook (that's right, Facebook).

Remember Arran's first vintage was 1995, which did not prevent our Maniacal friend Ho-cheng from finding a 1982 in a Taiwanese shop, back in the early 2000s. Some fakes are funnier than others.

Arran 1996/2021 (43%, Jean Boyer, Gifted Stills, hogshead, 600 bottles)

Nice outturn for a single hogshead of this nice ripe age, even at 43% ABV. This is a bottling from and for France. Thinking of Jean Marie. Colour: white wine. Nose: you cannot be more on cornflakes, ripe apples, very ripe pears, shortbread, popcorn, fresh croissants, grist and oranges. A little chalk too. Totally impeccable, no false note, no unnecessary wood or wine in the way. Mouth: so good! I'm even sure it's better at 43 than it would have been at higher strengths. Notes of apples and pears again, dough, then crayons and touches of cedar shavings. There's also a very pleasant small salty touch, plus preserved peaches. Even a touch of fresh armagnac – I'm sure they haven't used armagnac but after all, Jean Boyer are located in the Landes (although not, I believe, in the armagnac-part of the Landes). Finish: surprisingly long, with some honey and citrus. Awesome notes of thyme honey in the aftertaste. Comments: little bottlings, big whiskies! This starts well, it's been a perfect apéritif…
SGP:561 - 88 points.

Lochranza 27 yo 1996/2023 'Maria Stuart Countess of Arran' (50.7%, The Stillman's De, hogshead, cask #96/1121, 258 bottles)

If this is not an Arran, I'm Alice Cooper. Colour: pale gold. Nose: oh. I remember, in the early days, almost everyone was going like 'but why didn't Arran go full-peat?' We're now realizing that that would have been a mistake. It is a very complex nose, full of 'good flaws', with some brown ale, caramelized beer sauce, muscovado, butter cream, pine wood, apple juice and vinegar, green walnut liqueur, curry, then praline and butterscotch, millionaire shortbread, toffee apples, black nougat… It really glitters. With water: leafier. More green walnuts, stalk, roasted pumpkin seed, a little paraffin as well… Mouth (neat): much more compact, with loads of chocolaty and nutty oloroso. Or was it amontillado? Could be… Walnut cake, satay sauce, curries, more brown ale, some kind of salty toffee… What's funny is that the colour wouldn't have suggested this could have been sherry. With water: excellent. Salty cakes, crazy zakouski, salted and smoked almonds, mentholated tobacco, Marlboro Green (last smoked one around the year 1995 but I remember the taste)… Finish: long. Mustard, salt, ashes, walnuts, coffee, curry… And toffee in the aftertaste. Comments: just wondering if they hadn't borrowed a cask from a neighbouring distillery. Like, just over Kintyre and Gigha, further west towards a famous shoreline…
SGP:563 - 90 points.

Good, we're too high and too fast already. Arran!

Arran 27 yo 1995/2023 (49.8%, OB, LMDW New Vibrations, sherry hogshead, cask #95/347, 293 bottles)

This is one of the oldest Arrans there ever was, beyond that funny fake 1982 in Taiwan. By the way, I remember that at the time, we said that finding a fake was an excellent sign for the future of Arran; coz who would bother making fakes of a brand with no value? Colour: gold/pale bronze. Nose: it's become 'older whisky', with herbal liqueurs and old walnuts, mead, old white wines (chardonnays), old beeswax (when it's become very dark yellow), then malt and Belgian trappiste beers, fermenting plums and certainly some meaty proteins, bouillons, marrow quenelles (we love those in Alsace, we put them into our, well, bouillons). A truly complex nose, curious about the palate. Mouth: more rich sweet beers and old chardonnay, plus loads and loads of chocolate, Mars bars (deep-fried, naturally), millionaire shortbread, then Seville oranges, touches of pinewood, turmeric and ginger from the wood, dried figs and prunes, more mead yet… It's pretty luscious but there's also a kind of firmness, almost smoky/coastal. Finish: long, a tad more bitter in a good way, with apple peel, walnuts, more ginger and turmeric, and bitter oranges in the aftertaste. Comments: not the slightest sign of fatigue in this old Arran from the very first period, perhaps a bit firmer than the vintages that followed, but that could be an effect of the sherry cask.
SGP:462 - 89 points.

We remain very high…

Arran 23 yo 1996/2019 (51.1%, Maltbarn, bourbon, 121 bottles)

Indeed, we remain in the very early years of the distillery. Colour: straw. Nose: on grasses and passion fruits this time, grapefruits, fruit peel, lettuce juice, one tiny slice of a small banana, some citrusy hops, white beer… Minimal oak impact this time, we like this. With water: barley, grist, chalk and dough showing up. Mouth (neat): oh excellent! Orange blossom honey, Juicy Fruit, more passion fruit, more grapefruit… You would say a very good new-world sauvignon blanc. With water: juts more of that tropicalness. Isn't it true that they have palm trees on Arran? We hope that the Gulf Stream will hold up. Finish: not that long but sublimely citrusy. Even more passion fruits and some Timut pepper. Comments: did anyone ever try to distil and mature some high-hops IPA? This is what could happen…
SGP:651 - 90 points.

Too high, we're too high… Can't we find a useless finishing in red wines of some sorts?... Oh, no…

Arran 25 yo 1996/2021 (51%, Whisky-Doris, Art Nouveau series, hogshead, 235 bottes)

And a simple hogshead at that, life is unfair. We love this bottle very mucha (warning, sentence contains a stupid joke). Colour: white wine. Nose: basically, it is the same whisky as the Maltbarn – both are German anyway – only a little more piney, terpenic, with a little less dough. Levels are very similar, both very high. With water: crushed slate, crushed chalk, fresh concrete, oyster shells, maracuja, pink grapefruit. Mouth (neat): so close. Admirable lemons, grapefruits and passion fruits. More sauvignon blanc but also some riesling. With water: I think I'm feeling some vitamins. C-vitamin tablets. Finish: rather long, tenser, grassier. Grape pips, stalk, zests. Comments: never taste these when you're thirsty. We understand each other, don't we?
SGP:651 - 90 points.

We're too high…

Arran 20 yo 1996/2017 (50.3%, Claxton's, refill hogshead, cask #1713-1214, 291 bottles)

We've had a 1996 from Claxton's that was ex-sherry puncheon, it was excellent (WF 89) three years ago. Colour: white wine. Nose: we certainly find a profile that's very similar to the previous ones, shared between citrus, exotic fruits, and dough/barley. Lemon sprinkled over chalk and limestone. With water: a tiny vestige of menthol and crushed leaves of various sorts. Some peach skin, perhaps. Mouth: a little pepper upfront, otherwise the expected lemony and grassy cavalry. With water: awesome fresh fruits, citrus, peaches, chalk… Finish: pretty long, rather on that distilled IPA beer we were mentioning without even knowing if that existed. Comments: it's almost a bit of a waste to taste such similar and equally fine whiskies one after the other as we are doing today. I almost feel the need to offer Whiskyfun's apologies to the distinguished bottlers (we owe you a pint of IPA).
SGP:651 - 88 points.

Sweet Vishnu, we're still too high, let's find a youngster…

Arran 10 yo 2011/2022 (55.2%, OB for LMDW, Antipodes, first fill bourbon barrel, cask #2011/1871, 224 bottles)

Colour: straw. Nose: there you go, this is a peater. It's always a bit tricky when bottlings contain peated versions of malts that are not usually so; the taster must be very careful. In any case, we should pay close attention to the labels (S., this applies to you as well). So, this has a very grassy, pretty acrid smoke, I'm not sure I'm an utter fan. A feeling of deep-smoked apples and pears, which I find a little bizarre… But water may well sort things out. With water: garden bonfire, barbecued eggplants… Mouth (neat): to be honest, I don't think distilleries should do both peated and unpeated, this reminds me a bit of peated Tomintoul, Benriach, Knockdhu or else, even Bunnahabhain. Exceptions at Springbank and Bruichladdich, you are right. Oh and at Tobermory… Anyway, you see what I mean and let's remember that they've now built Lagg (excellent drop). With water: sweet peat (is made of this – S.!) Finish: long, smoky, sweet. Peach, smoke, syrup, pepper. Comments: don't get me wrong, it is an excellent drop, and these smoked peaches are even having an Ardmore-y side, but are these necessary? After all, we're never drinking peat, we're drinking Ardbeg, Laphroaig, Lagavulin, Bowmore… And it's really sweet.
SGP:655 - 84 points.

See you very soon for more Arran…

Check the index of all Arran we've tasted so far