Arran 1996 17 Year Old Old Particular Douglas Laing

Arran 18 Year Old 1996 Thompson's Sauternes Cask Finish

Simon Thompson is a British gentleman who lives in Bordeaux. He specializes in distilling wine – you read that right – from this region. He developed a unique brandywine. But since recently he has also gotten involved with whisky. He bottled this cask of Arran which was finished on a Sauternes cask from the Château La Bouade. Quite an active cask,...

Score 84/100

Arran Lochranza Reserve

This is not the rare blend for Arran distillery investors from the 1990s. It's called Lochranza Founders Reserve. Arran Lochranza Reserve is a NAS-whisky, matured in bourbon and sherry casks. Named after the home village of Arran Distillery, created to show an even lighter version of Arran. Bit too light for me. Still, a positive surprise, because...

Score 82/100

Arran Machrie Moor Cask Strength

Like many distilleries, Arran too has a peated version, that was dubbed Machrie Moor, named after the peat fields on the island. The label shows Bran, a dog that – as legend would have it – was chained to the standing stones near that field by the warrior Fingal. The malt that Arran used for the Machrie Moor is peated to 14ppm. That’s quite light....

Score 84/100

Arran 14 Year Old

This one was finished in fresh bourbon and sherry hogsheads for two years before it was bottled. The result is a sweet and fruity dram. Now for the notes: Nose: Tropical fruits galore, strong balsamic on teh nose too. After 5 minutes of letting it rest in the glass, all that balsamic is gone, and we get some lovely apples, barley, wood. Wonderful...

Score 85/100