The Malt Cask

Arran 13 with Lochranza Castle in the background Today, I am reviewing a bottle I should have reviewed a while back now. In April 2019 I headed out to the Isle of Arran with a few friends and after some very picturesque hikes, we stopped at the distillery for a tour and a tasting. Both were absolutely fantastic and I left with a bottle of 13 year-old Arran, exclusive to the distillery shop. Arran is know for using many types of casks, from sherry, to wine but I wanted to go back to the essence of the spirit with this ex-Bourbon cask. Distilled on 20/05/05, the spirit spent over 13 years in a Bourbon barrel before being bottled on 14/11/18. This is bottle 115/194 and is of course unchillfiltered, natural colour and cask strength (57.1%) My tasting notes: Nose:   Fruity and sweet, honey, fresh fruit (peach and grapes), vanilla, oak, raisins, caramel, some floral hints as well (jasmine and orange blossom) A very promising start! Palate: Pretty big, fruity and spicy, some bitterness, ...

  Photo courtesy of  Vintage Bottlers ltd More from Vintage Bottlers today with their first named release: a sherried 24 year-old Arran. As I mentioned in a previous post, Vintage Bottlers are a new independent bottler, which are not looking at young cheap whisky but only “the very best whisky Scotland has produced, past and present”, as stated on their website. After a Secret Highland (Clynelish) 30 years old, this Arran 24 is also a big boy! Arran has only started production in 1995, so with this one, we are looking at whisky produced in the first couple of years of production, some of the oldest Arran around at the moment. All I know about the cask however is that it was an ex-sherry cask. All I have is a 5cl sample of it sent to me by the guys at Vintage Bottlers but the colour (natural) is pretty dark (walnut), the whisky has not been chillfiltered and is bottled at 51.6% (cask strength I presume) My tasting notes: Nose: Sweet, fruity, oaky, lots of vanilla, almonds, rai...