The Isle of Arran in the bay between Ayrshire and Mull of Kintyre is a popular resort and for Tintin fans an extra obvious destination since the island and its Brodick Castle was model for "The Black Island", the seventh volume of The Adventures of Tintin. But for malt-heads such as myself the attention is devoted to the tiny village of Lochranza on the north side of the island. This is where the Arran Distillery is beautifully situated near the harbor, surrounded by mountains.
Until the 1850s Arran was a paradise for moonshiners; more than fifty stills - most of them illegal - were active. The reputation of the high quality whisky of Arran quickly spread far and wide, and Arran could compete with large distilleries in Speyside. The taxman wouldn't have it and finally crossed the strait and put an end to a successful industry. It would take a hundred years before a former director at Chivas Brothers, Harold Currie, established a new distillery on the island in 1993. The construction had been preceded by an intensive search around Scotland when he finally chose Lochranza, as the water here turned out to belong to the purest in Scotland. Furthermore, the climate of the island was almost perfectly suited for storage of whisky.
The distillery is equipped with a mash tun in stainless steel which is filled with 2.5 tons of Optic malt per time. The malt is purchased completely unsmoked from Bairds Malt and is delivered pre-ground, since the distillery lacks its own mill. Arran has four washbacks of maple wood with a capacity of 15,000 liters each, where fermentation lasts for up to 52 hours. Then it's distilled in two copper stills (7100 and 4300 liters each). The soft and unpeaty water is taken from the river Easan Biorach.
The spirits are put mainly in bourbon and sherry casks, but Arran has experimented a lot with different cask expressions. In addition to the standard bottlings of 10 and 14 years, there is today the Amarone, Sauternes and Port finishes in the range, as well as a few single-cask versions. Just as the nearby distillery Springbank, none of their releases are chill-filtered or artificially colored, a trend that is applauded by enthusiasts such as myself worldwide.
The capacity of the distillery is today around 1.2 million liters of pure alcohol, but the annual production is held around 125.000 liters and most of the casks rest in the rented warehouses at the Springbank distillery in Campbeltown.
Many Scottish distilleries outside of Islay have joined the trend of heavy smoke bombs as a complement to their usual range. This is also the case with Arran, that in 2004 began to distill with smoked malt. But instead of joining the veritable war of who can produce the most pungent smoke-bomb, they chose a light to medium smoked malt at 12 ppm. The final result was called Machrie Moor.Â
The whisky we'll be tasting today was matured for 8 years in traditional oak casks and then finished in handpicked Sauternes wine casks (for at least a year I assume.) Sauternes is a sweet dessert wine from the Bordeaux region and their casks tend to produce quite feminine and light whiskies with floral and honey notes. I doubt that this one would appeal to Captain Haddock (he probably wouldn't admit it at least.)
Arran Sauternes Cask Finish
ABV: 50%
Age: NAS (but at least 8 years + some time on Sauternes casks)
Region: Arran
Price: ~42 USD / 0.7L
Un-chill filtered & Â Natural color
Appearance: Light gold.
Nose: Like dipping your nose in a honey jar! You can definitely feel some youthness and acetone notes, but it's balanced by the sweetness. The acetone also disappears when given plenty of air, so let it rest in the glass for 10-15 minutes. Grass, citrus, vanilla and maybe some pickled pears in syrup. Flowers and some tree resin arrive after airing. Hints of exotic fruits such as pineapple and peach.
Mouth: Seductive notes of deep and thick honey. Sexy! In a deeper layer a solid base of vanilla custard with a touch of banana. I'm surprised that despite all the sweet notes I don't experience it as a sticky or sleazy whisky. After some time in the glass emerges a fresh green banana and kiwi. In its tow cinnamon and honey candies with coconut, sultanas and lemon curd. The oak has a lot of pepper to give, which of course balances the sweetness.
Finish: A medium-long aftertaste that begins with an explosion of white wine references and a nice balance between sweet and tart - which is then replaced by a bitter note of oak, burnt caramel and grape skins that provide dryness. I think I need a cigarette.
Conclusion: Again, sexy! A seductive mistress. A love affair that my Islay, Speyside and Highland darlings will never find out about. She's rather shy in the beginning though, so give her some time to open up. I find this one a few notches better than Glenmorangie's Sauternes expression "Nectar D'Or" which I reviewed a while ago. I think that also Haddock would enjoy her in secret. The final score lands at 88 out of 100.
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