07/09/2022 Arran

Arran 9yo 2012/2022 White Stag Dinner (59.9%, OB specially chosen and bottled for the Arran Whisky Festival - Malt and Music 2022, First Fill Bourbon Barrel, C#2012/2457, 120b): nose: a gentle slap on the chin, naturally, considering the strength and the announced peat levels (42ppm). Here are coarse grain, toasted and roasted, thick and greasy peat smoke that knocks on the door of bituminous coal, and dusty draff. Behind all that rusticity, we find a dry white wine from Mâcon, fruity and ashy. The coal impression grows, as the nose starts giving steam-train tenders and 1920s basements in any significant city in Western Europe (coal reserve, innit). The second nose is more or less in line, yet deeper sniffing reveals sea rocks and shingles, drying ashore, out of reach of the tide. Suddenly, a creamy caramel custard storms in to balance the whole thing, served in a plastic tub that has a rubber seal. There are also fleeting tarry ropes and fishing nets, just for one second. Mouth: boom. It is robust, as expected, yet not exceedingly brutal. The texture strikes between Mercurochrome and grain eau-de-vie, with a heat that makes coal and ash the centres of attention again. Oh! this is ashy alright. Not at all in an ashtray sense; more like the ash at the bottom of the hearth. And then, that acrid  peat smoke rises gently, yet inexorably. On the palate too, dry white wine is to be found, even more subdued than on the nose, but still. The second sip has a similar rubbery note as the nose, though it is so well concealed as to be almost unnoticeable. The wafts of smoke cover it all up rather nicely. The whole feels astonishingly approachable, despite the somewhat frightening ABV. Finish: a surprise, here: sweetness. Lush green grapes, ripe greengages, and macaroon cream filling do a quick little dance, before ash and smoke take over. There's a raging fire (in my heart tonight) in the stomach, the flames of which tickle all the way up to the tonsils, and that brings us back to a fireplace in a grandmother's cottage. The second sip sees us firmly seated in that cottage, and said grandmother has just pulled a tray of fudge, milk-chocolate custard, or some caramel-glazed cake out of the oven (ooooooooh!) That warming feeling of a comfy fireplace and the resulting smoke are like a pat on the back and a warm blanket. Wow. This is how old!? 8/10 (Thanks for the dram, JS)