cascode
Arran Master of Distilling II The Man with the Golden Glass
Single Malt — Islands, Scotland
Reviewed
July 17, 2019 (edited October 6, 2022)
Arran tasting night at The Oak Barrel, Sydney, 12 July 2019. Whisky #5
Nose: The nose features tropical fruits (mango, papaya, orange, banana) but they have a uniform over-aged and sickly, fusty aroma. It reminded me of a fruit bowl where the contents are just one day shy of rotting. There were also aromas of boiled cauliflower, boiled cabbage, old socks and some very broadly painted sherry aromas with a strongly walnut and red grape character.
Palate: A semi-sweet arrival that is very grapey and rather drying. Yeasty, doughy white bread, strongly flavoured butter, bitter orange oil, cider vinegar and again a massive dry wine presence. The texture was full.
Finish: Medium. A prominent semi-sweet sherry aftertaste.
A very expressive, but for my palate not very attractive, single malt. The sherry note is big but aged and dusty, full of flavor but also dry and with an odd furry note. It's not like any sherry-matured or finished whisky I've tasted before.
The casks used to mature this whisky were hand picked by James McTaggart (the Arran head distiller) from decommissioned solera casks at a Spanish sherry bodega (I was told the name but I can't recall it). This bodega produces palo cortado, which was historically an amontillado or fino that went wrong and was re-purposed to create a semi-sweet sherry. However nowadays palo cortado is an intentionally crafted product that is midway between amontillado and oloroso.
Almost all sherry matured or sherry finished whisky is aged in seasoned casks and it is rare to use solera casks. They are difficult to obtain and can be unpredictable, either having a deep and robust quality but just as likely as much character as a steel tank.
I'm sure there are some enthusiasts who would have a very different opinion to mine and would consider this a rare and uniquely profiled dram. However I was not at all partial to it, and I'm scoring it according to my immediate subjective impression.
"Adequate" : 73/100 (2.25 stars)
220.0
AUD
per
Bottle
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@Jan-Case Well said, it’s the marvellous complexity and variety of experience that makes whisky so interesting. There *are* some flat-out objectively crap whiskies, but for the most part what is released is pretty solid.
@cascode as I said here and there - this is what I like about whisky. There barely is no real good or bad whisky - it always comes down to so many personal and subjective factors that makes you like or dislike a whisky. And in the end this here was a limited experiment where Mactaggart could play around a little with what he personally likes. And the reason that you still can get this heavily limited bottle in some stores today shows that obviously not so many were really that fond of it - to my advantage ;)
@Jan-Case I only tasted it the one time at a tasting event last year, so I can't comment on it other than that. It definitely did not attract me at all and stood out from all the other Arran expressions on the night. Arran is a whisky I very much enjoy normally - I have about a dozen bottles of favourite expressions in storage - but apart from some of their first whiskies, which were awful, this is the only one I've really disliked. I can only assume that I have a particular dislike of maturation in old solera casks, which is a very unusual practice. Such casks must of necessity have a totally different effect on distillate as it matures than that given by transport casks or seasoned casks. I can't think of any other explanation other than some odd personal aroma or taste association I have that shows up in solera casks. The odd thing is, I love sherry of all types.
@cascode crawling through some old tastes. This one made ma curious. This whisky is one of me favorites and interesting to see how differently the reception can be sometimes. Yes it is on the very sweet side and yes it is unusual but I guess that is what makes me like it. So much so that I already have a second bottle of it. I would however be interested in your thoughts now some many months later.
Boiled cabbage and old socks! Sheesh, no thanks.