Arran 16 Year

-10May2020 Maltzman Manor

Friday! Game 4 of the World Series. House to myself (and the dog). I rummage through a the stockpile of samples and find me a pour provided by @Telex. Arran. I have had the 12 Cask Strength and it was quite good. Now I have a 16 year. As Howard Jones says, Things can only get better (with age). At least I think so. Initial whiffs of rubbing alcohol that takes time to dissipate but remains constantly lingering, lightly encasing the other aromas. Those aromas are fruit, sweet and spice. Fruit of apples and pears with hints of bananas with a twist of lemon. A simple honey, vanilla sweetness with ginger and sawdust is in balance with the fruits. The ginger/sawdust provides a soft, punchy spice. Though bottled at a nice 46%, the entry is as smooth as satin with a rich and creamy feel. An immediate vanilla and honey sweetness that gives way and is overtaken by a cinnamon and black pepper spice. A nutty pistachio quality develops during the fade towards the finish. A spicy tingle remains for a fair length. When the spice subsides, oak and vanilla remain and the woody dryness ultimately remaining. For a semi mature scotch, the complexity is lacking. Simple, straightforward aromas and flavors and, for the maturity, you want more out of the whisky so you dig and scour searching for more, but to no avail. All in all, it’s a pour you will can easily drink. But I would look elsewhere to get something better, given the age and price. [82/100][Tasted: 10/25/19]

Nothing exudes class like sitting in a hotel room in gym shorts, and having a 16 yr old single malt out of a plastic cup, while watching Guy Fieri on The Food Network. Anyway—-This one here was sent by my buddy @Telex . I decided to brave the TSA, put it in a ziploc bag, and bring it out to here to the Rockies for a business trip. It’s a bit schizophrenic. I like the nose: salted caramel. Bourbon-y vanilla. But the palette is all over the place —from the Islander brine, to the Speysider honey, to even some sherry notes. Just all over the place, with a lingering prickly ginger heat, which I’m a bit surprised since it’s a mid-teenager. It’s not bad, but I was expecting more from a 16 yr old Islander. Buy, sample or skip—-I’d say skip. Instead buy a Talisker 10, for a true taste of the Islands. Thanks Jason for the pour!

Here’s a sample pour I received from a former SDT colleague, @Telex from Maryland. The Arran 16 year was a widely released malt with a bottle count of almost 9,000. It’s bottled at 46% ABV and is yellow gold in color with watery, medium-sized drops and tons of legs in the tasting glass. This is what I’ll call “A Tale of Two Drams”, let me explain: Initially, the nose was ex-bourbon to the extreme: heavy, fresh cut oak with ginger undertones and abrasive alcohol astringency. Given a lengthy, airy rest I was able to coax some apples, pears, citrusy lime out of it, with some faint sherry notes rounding things out. Sadly, just as soon as I thought it was revealing itself I got more oak cask and ginger- those notes never fully faded away. The palate acted similarly: it contradicted itself back and forth with cinnamon and oak barrel power, yielding to subtle orchard fruit and vanilla sweetness, only to switch back to a biting citrus and ginger sting. The mouthfeel never turned soothing or relaxed. I even added a few drops of water to try and calm it on the last little bit to no avail. Spicy pepper and apple slices seemed to be the overall theme. The finish was hot and dry with pepper and woody notes. I did detect a little more of the sherry influence as it lingered, but the heat and sherry only reminded me of a cheap brandy and that didn’t leave me wanting to score this all that high. Overall, I can’t decide how much I want to punish this pour for being so mixed up. Just when I wanted it to turn the page and become a soothing, fruity dram it socked me back in the mouth with heat and pepper. I don’t know if it needs more time in the cask, more sherry cask juice blended in, or just abandon the sherry and focus on a cask strength, ex-bourbon profile. I get the impression that any one of those options would’ve resulted in a better dram. This one is kind of a mess as presented. 2.5 stars, maybe 2.75. Thanks for the pour, Jason, but I’d have to pass on buying a bottle at this point. Cheers.

Salted caramel