Arran 10 Year

Arran tasting night at The Oak Barrel, Sydney, 12 July 2019. Whisky #2 Nose: Fruity (green and red apples) with rich butter and vanilla tones. The addition of water develops these into sweet butterscotch, but the nose remains light and firm overall. It's not at all cloying or sugary and there are faint minty and fresh woody notes. Palate: Sweet, oily cereal arrival that develops into a malty palate with barley-sugar tones. There are delightful crisp ginger and white pepper spices and the texture is agreeably rich and oily. This rich texture expands as it rests, and a dash of water brings it out even more. Finish: Medium. Spicy/sweet, oily fruit notes and a sweet cereal aftertaste. This is an impressive 10 year old whisky. It's the youngest of the core age statement releases from Arran and an excellent representation of the distillery character. The nose in particular has a firmly-fresh but buttery cereal character that is very reminiscent of Irish pot-still whisky. The palate continues this and in many ways it brings Redbreast 12 to mind. In comparison to the distillery's Lochranza Reserve NAS it's a considerable step-up for just a few dollars, and in comparison to their old 14 year expression it has similar quality but an overall brighter and more cereal profile. Highly recommended and good value for money. Note: The Distiller listing for this whisky is a bit of a mess. Arran 10 has gone through three distinct profile changes that coincided with changes of label and bottle shape. The Distiller scope note that dismisses this as rebranding is misleading. The photo for this listing is of the current bottle shape that was introduced in 2019 but the official tasting notes and score relate to the whisky as it was 10 years earlier. These notes no longer describe this whisky correctly and a score of 79 (which was once appropriate) now misrepresents the quality. "Very Good" : 85/100 (4 stars)

Nose: rich, raisins, dark chocolate, Christmas cake.

Soft enough peat to be flavorful but not overpowering