Arran 18 Year

Nose: Raisins, ethanol, sultanas. Taste: Raisins, Caramel, Vanilla, Cinnamon. Palate: The Carmel & Vanilla linger and then it melts to TOBACCO. My absolute favorite. This is really nice & I need to try it side by side with the 17 limited edition.

Un sublime parfum de raisins secs, de bleuets et de cerises mène à du chêne épicé (pensez muscade et clou) qui arrive tranquillement en finale. Les saveurs de raisins secs remplissent toute la rondeur de chaque gorgée presque comme un Bas Armagnac. De toute beauté!

Nose: Warming, hearty malt, beef bouillon, stewed prunes, fig jam, vanilla, clean fragrant wood, daydreams of oloroso and PX sherry. A very pleasant and fullsome nose indeed. Palate: Sweet for a fraction of a second on the arrival (coffee crystals? Demerara sugar?), then gaining a little heat and ginger spice as it moves into a dry development with the foundation malt surging to centre stage. A fruity change mid-development as dried apple, baked peach, preserved figs, sweet dark chocolate, dark cherries and slightly bitter orange appear followed by a quick return of the lighter sugary sweet notes from the arrival. The texture is mouth-coating and full but balanced by mild astringency from some supple and very adroitly handled tannin. There is a very subtle liquorice note in the background that is supurb. Finish: Long. Malt extract, dusky fruit and bittersweet citrus, fading into a satisfying aftertaste that keeps rolling along with lingering sherry influences. Lovely whisky with excellent progression. I last reviewed this here in mid-2019 but that was for the old bottling, which was quite different in my opinion. It had a drier character with a profile reminiscent of stout or porter and the body was heftier and almost chewy. This expression is softer and shows more citrus tones, and it is also slightly sweeter and more “rounded”. The sherry cask influence is exemplary - at no time do you notice sherry as a component but its influence permeates every part of this very good whisky’s profile and is the basis for all the complexity and evolution that happens. Tasted from a 15ml sample. I was about to order a bottle but then saw the local price. It’s worth it and if I was a devotee of sherry maturation I'd buy one, but I can get Ledaig 18 and many other 18 year olds that are just as good for 2/3 the price so I don’t feel that compelled to have a bottle. Mind you, at $300 this stuff makes a laughingstock of contemporary Macallan 18. The real annoyance is that in the UK this sells for the equivalent of AUD$150. Grumble, grumble ... “Very Good” : 87/100 (4.25 stars)

Isle of Arran Distillery Virtual Tasting Event – Age of Distinction (The Whisky Company). Second 15 ml sample of the night (2/7) N- syrupy, strong oakiness, orchard fruit, sherry cask influence present as jammy fullness P-brown sugar, figgy, mild bakery spices and candied ginger, vanilla F- medium. warming citrus peel, cinnamon and ginger, bread fullness. Distiller whisky taste #38