Arran The Bothy Quarter Cask Batch 2

Arran tasting night at The Oak Barrel, Sydney, 12 July 2019. Whisky #4 Nose: Fruity aromas (peach, apricot and orange), honey, rich vanilla, madeira cake and shortbread. There is a floral/incense aspect to the nose with lily-of-the-valley, jasmine, musk, sandalwood and frankincense all noticeable. There is also a very faint smoke-like note, which is probably barrel-char as this is an unpeated whisky. Palate: The arrival is big, sweet, creamy/oily and led by vanilla, honey and malty cereal. Very quickly it develops a rich tropical fruit character with sweet pineapple, soft persimmon, mangosteen and orange all making an appearance. The cereal notes from the arrival resurface after a while as a sweet brioche or light fruitcake presence. All this sweetness could be cloying but there is a very well crafted counterpoint of restrained white pepper, ginger and aniseed together with a mild dryness from both the moderately high abv and some soft oak tannin. The combination of all these elements is a palate of precise balance and texture. Finish: Medium. Tropical fruity sweetness and honey linger on the palate, intertwined with delicate, spicy fresh oak notes. The aftertaste is mildly spiced sweet fruit. A cracking good whisky that may not impress on the initial nosing as it is quite shy when first poured and takes some time to wake up. It’s worth tasting neat to start with but I’d strongly recommend adding a dash of water and waiting at least 20 minutes for it to recompose. This does not upset the whisky’s balance but it does expand it and with time its inherent breadth, depth and intensity are revealed. It also develops a luscious creamy quality that continues to build throughout the tasting. Water also develops a strikingly dense louche, with the mist arising almost instantly and the whisky eventually becoming quite cloudy. I’ve noticed this before in Arran whiskies, particularly the cask-strength expressions. I presume they receive only the most cursory barrier filtration and are seething with oils. Yummy. In profile this has similarities to the creamy sweet character of the 14 year old expression, but The Bothy is more malty, less buttery and has a very fresh, open quality. It’s also more assertive all round (once it opens up) and in comparison the 14 can seem a little syrupy. It’s also similar to the 10 year old expression in some ways, with the same fresh malty cereal notes, but it’s like the 10 year old on steroids. The Bothy was first released in 2015 as a batch of 12,000 bottles. This 2nd release came out in 2016, also as a batch of 12,000, and there were two subsequent annual batches in 2017 and 2018. All of these expressions have been produced using the same maturation cycle: 8 years in first-fill ex-bourbon barrels, followed by 18 months in small re-coopered ex-bourbon wood quarter casks (of about 100 litres capacity – 20% smaller than most quarter casks). I’ve tasted the first three batches now and all have been very similar, but I think this second one is the best. “Very Good” : 87/100 (4.25 stars)