Last week the Malt Nuts gathered once again to dine on tasty food and imbibe tasty whisky. The distillery we’d be tasting that night would be The Arran, but none of us knew that at the time. This was a first for the group, a truly blind tasting. The only people who knew what distillery we were going to be exploring that evening was our gracious host, the head Malt Nut Barry, and his partner in crime the WhiskyRedhead.
Doing a fully blind tasting is always fun because there’s no way for you to have any preconceived notions of what you’re going to be tasting. There are no past experiences you can immediately equate it to and there’s no way to do any research about the distillery ahead of time. The only thing you can do is show up, sniff, taste and think. Then after the reveal you can confront any preconceived notions or prejudices you may have had and see if or how your perceptions change.
We did 3 rounds for this event and was structured like so:
- 46%
- Cask Strength
- Finishes
Like all Malt Nuts events it was a fantastic evening; here’s how it all shook out.
The Arran 46%
1A: The Arran 14 years (46%)
- Nose: Tropical fruit, malty hay, a bit of grains, red licorice, dried fruit and a touch of vanilla.
- Palate: Buttery tropical fruit, malt, dried fruit, dry grain, a touch of citrus and spice.
- Finish: Tropical fruit, spice, dried fruit and a touch of cocoa
- Overall: B+ (87-89) Has a nice character that’s light without being spineless and easy to enjoy.
1B: The Arran 10 years (46%)
- Nose: Tropical fruit, vanilla, dried orchard fruit and a bit of hay.
- Palate: Tropical fruit, malt, vanilla, dried fruit and a touch of funky earthiness.
- Finish: Minerals, citrus, fruit, earth, mint and peat.
- Overall: B- (80-82) This was a big surprise to everyone how poorly it showed that night. Maybe it was an off bottle or something but it came across as simultaneously light and muddled. I still hold that this is a good whisky, but this night it was a little… meh.
1C: The Arran Machrie Moore (46%)
- Nose: Orchard fruit, vanilla, dried fruit, hay-like malt and a light dusting of peat.
- Palate: Orchard fruit, peat, vanilla, smarties, dried fruit, malt and graham.
- Finish: Lightly peated with notes of vanilla, spice, and spearmint.
- Overall: B+ (87-89) The way peat bounces off of the fruit, malt and spice is fantastic and brings a nice balance to the whisky. It’s not quite a smoky fruit bomb, more like a smoky fruit grenade.
The Arran Cask Strength
2A: The Arran 12 – Cask Strength (52.9%)
- Nose: Tropical fruit, dried fruit, citrus, crushed smarties, touch of red fruit, grapiness and butterscotch.
- Palate: Tropical fruit, a bit of peat, citrus, melon, red fruit and mint.
- Finish: Tropical fruit, peat, caramel, spice and earth.
- Overall: B+ (87-89) Rich with some nice dualistic notes and rich character throughout. A bit more complexity would have knocked this one up to an A-.
2B: The Arran Single Barrel – ex-Bourbon Cask (54.1%)
- Nose: Buttery orchard and tropical fruit, spice, citrus, malt, a touch of wood and dried red fruit.
- Palate: Rich orchard and tropical fruit, malt, vanilla, hay-like malt, honey, vanilla, dried apricots and bananas with a touch of powdered sugar.
- Finish: Fruit, powdered sugar, earth and honey.
- Overall: A- (90-92) This one ended up being my favorite of the night and was knocking on the door of an A. It was rich, dense and full bodied with a complex aroma and flavor, but fell a bit short on the finish. Compared to the nose and palate the finish was stunted and weak, but still completely pleasant. If there was a bit more happening at the end it definitely would have secured an A.
2C: The Arran Single Barrel – ex-Sherry (56.3%)
- Nose: Caramel, fruit, dried berries, butterscotch, vanilla, malt and a wee bit of ash.
- Palate: Fruit, butterscotch, vanilla, hay, dried red fruit and toffee.
- Finish: Dark sweets, fruit and a touch of earth.
- Overall: B (83-86) I didn’t peg this one as being a sherried cask at all, I didn’t get any of that nice sherry sweetness nor did I get any of the usual notes of juicy red fruit or vermouth that I normally pick up from a sherried cask. My guess is that it was a 2nd fill+.
2D: The Arran – Single Cask Nation (55.9%)
- Nose: Buttery fruit, dark sweets, some dried fruit, earth, wood and a bit of waxiness.
- Palate: Fruit, peat, dark sweets, dried dark fruit and a hint of vermouth. Touch of cocoa, mint and floral notes towards the end.
- Finish: Floral, mint, hay, earthy malt and fruit.
- Overall: B (83-86) Muted nose and palate at first, but a bit of water it up. Overall a bit on the light side but it was noticeably an ex-sherry barrel this time. Though again it definitely wasn’t a first fill.
The Arran Cask Finishes
3A: The Arran – Amaroni Finish (50%)
- Nose: Tropical fruit, dark fruit, malt and a grapy / berry-like sweetness that reminds me of the strawberry Boone’s Farm of my youth.
- Palate: Malt, smarties, vanilla, Strawberry Necco wafers and a jammy winey strawberry Boone’s kick that builds towards the end.
- Finish: Fruit, malt and Boone’s.
- Overall: B (83-86) This one was an oddball. I liked some aspects of it, I didn’t like others and it felt both familiar and new all at once. For 1/2 a second I thought our host had pulled one over on us and we were doing Bruichladdich again and this was one of their wine finished expressions.
3B: The Arran Sauternes Finish (50%)
- Nose: Buttery fruit, a bit floral, honey, graham, malt and vanilla.
- Palate: Buttery fruit, a bit floral, honey, graham, malt and vanilla with a bit of waxy candy and wine notes towards the end.
- Finish: Buttery, fruity, woody and waxy with something that is kind of like wine… but not quite. It’s also very short.
- Overall: B (83-89) Basic, but good. I wouldn’t go out of my way for this one, but definitely wouldn’t turn down a glass if offered.
3C: The Arran Port Finish (50%)
- Nose: Grapey, winey, fruity and malty. Touch of citrus, shortcake, dark fruit and cocoa.
- Palate: Dark raisiny fruit, port-like wine qualities, malt, dried fruit, smarties and a dark sweetness that pops up towards the end.
- Finish: Fruit, port-like wine, citrus, cocoa and strawberry Mentos.
- Overall: A- (90-92) On the lower end of the A-, but without question it was my 2nd favorite of the night. I enjoyed everything about it and was really pleased to see it was the port finish when revealed.
For me the most interesting part of the evening was finding out who the distillery was and then comparing it to a similar tasting of The Arran I recently posted about. As expected some of the whiskies showed better, some showed worse and some stayed the same, none of which is surprising. What was surprising, or maybe just good to see, is that there wasn’t a stinker in the bunch which is exactly how it all turned out previously. The Arran is a great distillery and if you haven’t tried anything from them you really should.
Till next time, cheers!
