I recently attended an Arran whisky tasting in Malmoe, Sweden.
It was hosted by a local whisky club and was carried out by lovely Louisa Young, who is Sales Manager at the Arran distillery.
Arran distillery is an independent distillery and was founded in 1995 and is the only distillery on the isle of Arran, which is situated in a bay on the west cost of Scotland.
The tasting was a great success and 65 persons did attend.
We tasted 6 different whiskies:
They are all single malts, non-chill filtered and no colouring.
1. 10 years, 46%
2. 12 years, 46%
3. 8 years, 57% (100° proof)
4. 8 years, 50% + 9 months Pinot Noir Finish
5. 8 years, 50% + 6 months Pomerol Finish
6. 8 years, 55% + 10 months Moscatel Finish
Arran is a young distillery and does not have any old whiskies in stock yet, so they are experimenting to find good expressions. This results in several different finishes as no. 4-6.
Here is a summary of the tasting notes:
Colour: 1 and 3 pale straw. 2, 4-6 amber
Nose, without water: 1-2, 4-6 fresh, 3 warming.
Nose, with water: 1 fruity, citrus, malt. 2 sweet, fruity. 3 fruity, fudge. 4 sweet spiciness. 5sharp. 6 sweets, nuts.
Body: All medium
Mouth feel: 1-3 oily. 4 and 6 rough. 5 dry.
Overall flavour: All of them had some spiciness. 1-2 fruity and some sweetness. 3 fudge. 4 rubber. 5 fudge. 6 Cask, wood, nutty.
Finish: Medium long, medium big
Conclusion: There is a fruity spiciness in all expressions. Both 1 and 2 are very nice malts and I look forward to the 14 year old which will be released later this year. My personal favourite was the 100° proof, a smooth spicy fruity malt with a taste of fudge. Personally I’m not a fan of finishes in wine casks but a lot of people are. When we voted for the best whisky this evening, number 3 and 6 were voted the best.
