After a somewhat chaotic day of travel and late dinner, we have a slow and lazy start, today. At some point, it becomes time for a shower, then a thirty-second stroll to the Corrie Hotel.
For the festival, Arran Distillers are operating a free shuttle service that picks people up from around the island, and drops them off in the evening. It certainly beats seeing dozens of whisky tourists drink and drive!
It is a longish drive to Lagg, where the festivities take place, and there is queueing at the other end: the vultures are here for the festival bottlings, not all flippers, but some are. After thirty minutes, we have our grubby hands are on those bottlings.
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| But first, queueing |
More queueing to get food at the Kilmory Café. It is a nice and homely place (considering the wind, that is a good thing), but it is also organised à la Scottish (i.e., it is not terribly efficient). I grab a table and a dram of this year's Arran Harmony whilst waiting for the ladies.
Arran Harmony 1995/2022 (55.6%, OB The Arran Harmony Edition for Arran Whisky Festival Malt & Music 2022, 1000b): nose: toffee, honey, Bourbon vanilla, yellow and blue flowers. Tons of honey. Mouth: it has quite the ginger bite, yet it is also acidic, with lemon segments, then a chicory infusion. Finish: toffee, ginger powder and loads of fierce lemon juice. It leaves the gums throbbing! Further sips turn more and more chocolate-y. Yum! 7/10
Food is there.
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| Haggis bites for adc |
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| Vegan burger for JS |
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| Vegan gyozas for me |
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| Sweet-potato fries to share (I will hear all trip how good they were) |
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| Chips to share (I will hear all trip how poor they were) |
Once food is ingested, we take a brief tour of the distillery. I spot a box of chocolate on a cask top, and shamelessly nick one. I am caught red-handed by the bloke running the whisky-and-chocolate tasting next door. Woops. I will apologise profusely for the next couple of days. The guy does not look too bothered, which is just as well, because the chocolate is not worth the trouble. ;P
The tour is conducted by a Kiwi who operated a career change recently (he was a lorry driver, before). He is more or less going through a script for practice. We gently derail him halfway through to have an informal chat, which suits us much more.
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| The view from the still house |
Then, we hit the bar. There is live music, which provides a place to breathe and relax with a dram. Well, it is bloody cold, so the breathing and relaxation are very much figures of speech.
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| The music goes from pleasant backdrop to catchy folk |
The Arran Malt 20yo 1998/2018 The Festival Single Cask (46.2%, OB Limited Edition bottled specially for The Arran Malt & Music Festival 2018, Bourbon Barrel, C#98/005, 142b): nose: huge wafts of melted chocolate, soft, sweet barley, barley sugar, chocolate liqueur, hazelnut liqueur. Lovely! JS reckons it smells like a Japanese whisky. Mouth: it gets sweeter on the tongue, yet it exhibits bitterness at the same time, which spells hazelnut liqueur to me, shells and all. adc finds cinnamon sticks. Finish: in line with the above. It is green at first, then turns into a blend of jasmine and candied pistachio. Repeated sipping sees tropical fruits emerge and take off: pineapple, persimmon, and even lychee. Wow. 8/10
The Arran Malt 12yo 2006/2019 (52.6%, OB Private Cask selected by and bottled exclusively for Kensington Wine Market, Bourbon Barrel, C#2006/013, 208b, b#208): yup, the very last bottle filled from that cask. Nose: refined hay smoke and weathered leather, gently-roasted barley, earth, dried in the sun. It is all delicate and refined on the nostril. Mouth: it definitely has the acridity of smoke, albeit faint. Smoked dried strawberry and hay. Finish: hay again, soft smoke, yet also fruit juice, whether that is orange, apple, or a combination of the two. It is gently drying and refreshing at the same time. I love it. 8/10
Arran 10yo 2011/2021 (59%, OB Private Cask Lochranza Distillery Exclusive, Bourbon Barrel, C#2011/017, 239b, b#207): nose: sweet and round, supple, it has brioche and doughnuts, then it becomes drier, closer to hay. This really is a warm-bread number. Mouth: more lively on the tongue, it oscillates between nut liqueur and walnut skins, so, yes, it has a pronounced bitterness, and wood aplenty. Even a sprinkle of ginger powder... and glimpses of tropical fruits (peach skins and pineapple, mostly). Finish: powerful and spicy, it dishes out ground white pepper, ginger powder, mace, lemongrass, but also a faded fruitiness, not as pronounced as on the nose. Lovely drop. 8/10
Well, whether it is called Arran, The Arran Malt, or Arran Single Malt, one thing is for sure: it shines, when matured in a Bourbon cask!
Time for our tutored tasting.
Arran Whisky Festival
Malt & Music 2022
Drams & Disks
Mariella Romano, Global Brand Ambassador, and Andy Bell, Regional Sales Manager, have selected three whiskies and three songs each. They will play the songs (on vinyl, as the title of the event suggests), and we, the audience will have to find out the connection between each song and its associated whisky. The whiskies are served blind, of course. Oh! And we also have to vote in each round -- best whisky, best song, best connection. To add to the joy, the presenters do not know what the other has in store. My kind of tastings!
Now, it goes rather quickly, and the pours are huge. With intoxication, notes that were mediocre in the first place become frankly dreary. The connections are also tenuous and/or very personal to the presenters. I made scant notes on that front. Live with it.
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| Let the battle begin! |
Round 1
Andy plays: Glenn Miller - In The Mood
Andy serves:
Dram #1
Nose: strawberry cake and cotton candy.
Mouth: spices (cloves, pickled ginger, stem ginger).
Finish: softer in the finish, it remains spicy.
Comment: it tastes like a a good 10yo matured in a Bourbon cask. And indeed...
The Arran Malt 10yo 2007/2017 James MacTaggart (54.2%, OB Master of Distilling, 1st Fill Bourbon Barrels, 12000b) 7/10
Mariella plays: Jeff Buckley - Last Good Bye
Mariella serves:
Dram #2
Nose: a dark and fruity-yet-tannic red wine. Cocoa beans (adc), some brine, pickles too. Mariella calls it shy. I do not agree. Pickled onions, red-wine vinegar. It even has an animal aspect to it, then it turns earthier.
Mouth: soft and disconnected from the nose, then somewhat drying. It certainly has a distinct woody nerve to it, and a tad of chocolate.
Finish: long, strawberry-laden, we have chocolate-covered strawberries, and Fragolino, a strawberry wine from northern Italy. An hour later, the finish turns more tropical.
Comment: knowing Mariella, my money is on an Amarone cask.
Arran 17yo 2003/2021 (54.7%, OB Premium Cask bottled exclusively for the Netherlands, Sherry Butt, C#2003/32, 509b, b#505) 7/10
Verdict: Andy wins this round 29 votes to 28.
Round 2
Andy plays: The Beach Boys - God Only Knows
Andy serves
Dram #3
Nose: a bit indistinct. Dried peach skins, dried strawberry skins. It is layered, but then turns to cardboard.
Mouth: adc finds it close to the fruit-and-veg aisle of a supermarket.
Finish: a little dry, a little nondescript.
Comment: not bad, but a sequence mistake, in my opinion. Breathing time helps it shine brighter. Avoid drinking this in a line-up in quick succession.
Lochranza 1995/2022 (50%, Duty Paid Sample, C#95/347, Sample #2022-316) 8/10
Mariella plays: Dean Martin - That's Amore
Cue a sweet story about Mariella's father, seducer extraordinaire, and how the song and the whisky are a nod to him.
"Because I am Neapolitan, I have to bribe you, Mafia style," she says, bringing us cocktails made with the very whisky we have in our glasses.
Mariella serves
Dram #4
Nose: peach juice spilled on cardboard and pansies. It becomes very musky in the long run, which is weird, if interesting.
Mouth: meaty, now, leathery, musky. Is this a Clynelish? The second sip sees more black fruits -- blackcurrant, blackberry.
Finish: it is fruitier, here, with blackcurrant and hairy blackberry from start to finish.
Comment: we are going too fast. No-one has any clue what this could be, but it is good! Turns out Mariella blended samples of several similar casks (of 8-to-12yo Arran) to make this bespoke bottling for this here tasting. The casks in question used to contain an Italian red wine that cannot be named (my guess is Sassicaia).
Lochranza 8yo (unknown ABV, blend of cask samples, ex-Sassicaia Casks) 8/10
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| The other ingredient in that cocktail |
Verdict: Mariella mops the floor with Andy, in this round, 16 to 41 votes.
Round 3
Andy plays: Pink Floyd - Time
Andy serves
Dram #5
Nose: farm-y and leathery, this shows very-dry hay. Later on, we have smoked dried fruit slices (strawberry, disintegrating into a powder).
Mouth: dark, it has blackcurrant and blackberry, whiffs of a barnyard. In the long run, it reveals a lot of wood spices too.
Finish: long, assertive, not boisterous, it has lovely farm-y tones to boot.
Comment: Andy plays it safe. A pleasing sherry cask to accompany one of the most popular tunes from the most well-known album of possibly the best band of all time. Just that deserves a no-vote from me, although I do like the song.
Lochranza 2009/2022 (58.2%, Duty Paid Sample, C#09/001, Sample #2022-315) 7/10
Mariella: "How do you compete with Pink Floyd? I don't know you can, so I went for metal instead."
Mariella plays: Black Sabbath - Paranoid
Mariella serves
Dram #6
Nose: dry again, with a lick of cardboard, hay, dry radish tops, plaster, chalk, magnesia. Later on, marzipan and sink funk make an entrance (subtle, but well there). Later yet, it is orange-scented incense.
Mouth: burnt wood, scorched earth and, well, burnt stuff. Burnt apple pips, smoked apples.
Finish: yes, a combination of lovely smoked berries and burnt Sienna earth that manages to retain a juicy side. Hot sands and ginger.
Comment: good. With it, we are given an ice cream and Torroncini. Bribery, innit. It pays off.
The Arran Malt Heavily-Peated b.2019 (57.2%, OB bottled for Lagg Distillery, ex-Plantation Rum Cask Finish, 3000b) 8/10
Verdict: Andy edges it, 30 votes to 28.
Global verdict: Mariella is miffed that she conceded two rounds to Andy, but delighted to have the most votes overall, 75 to 97.
tOMoH: "Your KPIs are not clearly defined! What does success look like?"
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| Success, of course, looks like this |
This went way too fast, but it was bags of fun. Excellent tasting with lots of geekiness, from the point of view of whisky, of course, but also in terms of music and anecdotes about the records used.
We straggle a bit in the room as the day winds down. We are well loaded, and we still have plenty of whisky to finish: the pours were 2.5cl, and there were six drams. That is 15cl each, after a day of sipping. Dangerous.
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| The floor is starting to feel less stable |
We reckon it is pointless to hit the bar, now, so we finish in our own time instead, and slowly make our way to the bus. adc needs a bit of support: she is a little tired. :-)
It is an easy enough bus journey to Brodick, save for my increasingly uncomfortably full bladder. Right ahead of us is Stewart Bowman, the new distillery manager of Lochranza. I take the opportunity to network a bit. He comes across as a nice chap.
In the bus, adc pulls at her glass lanyard so insistently that the seam comes apart, unsewn.
We stop at MR's for comfort, then proceed to Drift Inn for supper. They only have a table outside, and it is windy, but the atmosphere and food are excellent.
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| On picture, it looks heavenly |
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| Pan-Seared Scallops for the three ladies |
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| Soup of the Day for me (Tomato & Lentil) |
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| Monkfish Tail Special for adc |
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| Mussels A La Creme [sic] for JS... |
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| ...served with Homemade Bread, Hand Cut Chips and a Citrus Mayonnaise (JS) |
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| Korean Chicken Burger for MR |
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| Oven Baked Macaroni Cheese served with Dressed Leaves and Hand Cut Chips for me (I have no shame) |
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| From where we sit, one can see the Holy Isle |
Once replenished, MR offers to drive us back to Corrie the long way -- clockwise around the island. We spot swans, hares, pheasants, deer, a horse, a pony, a goat, and stop to admire the sunset. Excellent, digestive, scenic tour. Beautiful island.
We have a drink at home, then off to bed.
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| Lagg managed to cock up the Belgian flag! |
adc: "I was tipsy, not drunk!..."
tOMoH: "You do remember that you fell off the car..."
adc: "...vaguely. But it's because I was stiff, not drunk!"
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