28/06/2025 The Arran Malt Festival (Day 2 -- Part 1): Arran Around the World

Isle of Arran has not arranged a bus, this year, unlike in 2022. All festivalgoers rely on the regular service from Brodick to Lochranza (and beyond), which makes for a packed bus indeed.

A packed bus indeed.

Fortunately, it is but a short ride, one in which tOMoH listens to gauge others, to try and figure out their place in the whisky world, hear which festivals they go to, whom they know et caetera. As is typical, some are more reserved, while others are keen to spread their knowledge and establish their dominance. All good fun.

We reach the distillery in good time. There, we start queueing for the festival bottles (as one does). It is a Scottish queue: there are two, not clearly marked, with one lady timidly explaining once in a while that one is for the whole shop, the other for the festival bottlings only. To try and combine our shopping, we opt to remain in the one for the whole shop; sadly, it is not moving quickly. There are three ladies manning the unique till, and between them, they manage to process one customer every four minutes on average. There are about thirty people ahead of us; you do the math. In their defence, some of those customers seem as interested in a good chat or a recommendation than in helping keep the queue at a manageable level. Sigh. When it is our turn at last, we are done in about twenty seconds. We do not even procure anything other than the festival bottles, so this has been a pure waste of time. Bah! By the time we are done, we just have time for a pit stop before our first tasting.

Let the games begin

Lucy MacKay and Heather Robertson host this first tasting. We know Lucy from an online tasting in 2021, but Heather is new to us.

Lucy in action

Dram #1

Nose: typical Bourbon-barrel scents, with vanillin and orchard fruits, as well as lemon and Custard Cream biscuits. It has something more spirit-y too, luckily balanced out by an emerging melon aroma. The second nose has honey and spring flowers.
Mouth: bright, lemon-y, the palate is augmented with heated apples and warm Custard Cream biscuits. It is a tad more acidic at second sip, and we discover grapefruit segments.
Finish: yes, same Bourbon-barrel action in the finish, citrus peel (minus the bitterness) and orchard fruits. The second gulp brings white wood and some spices.
Comments: a decent-enough cask, but starting a tasting about single casks dedicated to other regions with a bottling done for the distillery shop that lies ten metres from where we sit, the very shop in which we were not thirty minutes ago, in which we could try the very same bottling, is not a little difficult to swallow. 

Arran 13yo 2011/2024 (57.3%, OB Private Cask for Lochranza Distillery, ex-Bourbon Barrel, C#2011/567, 225b, b#199) 7/10

Dram #2

Nose: raisins and prunes, soaked almonds. Not much more to it than that, really, but it is rather nice. I find it a little earthy, and, indeed, it is from an Oloroso cask. The second nose has a hint of liquorice alongside shaving foam, and a few white-wood shavings.
Mouth: almond skins, pickled red onions, yet also a faint sweetness. Chewing releases prunes, dates and figs. Grape juice and pressed apples rock up at second sip. It flirts with candied apples, over time.
Finish: it is very sweet, now, dark, with plums, prunes, dried figs, and the tiniest hint of dried earth. The second gulp sees fermented peaches or cured apricots.
Comment: Heather talks at length about this Canadian shop, how they had two or three (refill?) Sherry hogsheads bottled for them in the past, and how surprised she was when they selected a much-larger butt for this one. I venture that "Sherry butt" is a much better seller than "Refill Sherry hogshead." It appears that had not occurred to her.

Arran 9yo 2013/2023 (58.2%, OB Private Cask specially selected for Kensington Wine Market Celebrating 30 Years Wine Market, Sherry Butt, C#2013/0930, 516b, b#001) 7/10

Dram #3

Nose: this is drier and woodier, mostly hazelwood. Lighter tones emerge slowly: Smyrna, white wood, plane shavings, maybe a mineral note. The second nose holds milk chocolate, and even white chocolate.
Mouth: a mix of green grapes and birch. This is sappy! The second sip has roasted apples, sour and full of pips, which adds bitterness. This is good.
Finish: thick, coating, reminiscent of Lyle's Golden Syrup. Perhaps it is date syrup? The second gulp is darker, presenting cured white peaches.
Comment: look, this is a decent cask again, make no mistake. However, considering how many Arran fans stem from the Benelux, offering a cask that was bottled from Germany is a faux pas: one can walk into Germany from the Benelux. Chances are many here have tried this in the past. The point of this tasting was to give "the opportunity to try some regional exclusive drams from over the years," this is probably a squandered opportunity.

The Arran Malt 16yo 2000/2016 (58.7%, OB Private Cask Selection Specially selected by Kammer Kirsch, Sherry Oak, C#2000/225, 258b, b#258) 7/10

Punter: "Where does the maritime feel come from?"
tOMoH: "The sea."

The temperature is rising, here! It is becoming uncomfortable.

Dram #4

Nose: hazelnut chocolate that feels nuttier and nuttier with each passing second. Nuts are how the Swiss hide the poor quality of their chocolate, of course, so this is very relevant, since it is a bottling for Switzerland. ;-) It eventually turns sweeter, with smashed strawberries and blackcurrants.
Mouth: rounder than its predecessors, this offers raspberry jelly, strawberry jam and a dollop of marmalade. It is sweet, yet balanced. We pick up a few fermented grapes at second sip.
Finish: long and wine-y while remaining balanced, it juggles blackcurrants and blueberries with a glass of red wine. Fruity, it has more and more berries in this long, vibrant finish.
Comment: Arran in Amarone cask always does the trick, and this is no exception.

The Arran Malt 7yo 2008/2016 (58.4%, OB Private Cask Selection for Switzerland, 6y in ex-Bourbon Cask + 1y in 3rd Ca'Rugate Amarone Wine Cask, C#2008#853, 239b, b#239) 7/10

Heather: "[Arran is] Rooted in tradition with an innovative mindset."

Cringe.

Annoyingly, we are behind schedule. We have one minute left for the final dram.

Dram #5

Nose: baked mud patties, smoked bacon, smoked earth, peat-smoked mud, cow dung (adc), smoked berries (of the straw kind, to be precise).
Mouth: soft, custard-y, perhaps with added berry jam. We have smoked myrtles, smashed blackberries, and a pinch of citrus zest so dry it is almost tasteless.
Finish: long, bold, smoky, it has remnants of a barbecue.
Comment: the best dram of the line-up, which is surprising, as I am not much of a peat head. Funnily enough, it was also selected for the furthest market, the sort of regions I hoped this tasting would explore more, rather than countries within spitting distance. Ah, well.

The Arran Malt 8yo 2011/2020 (56.1%, OB Private Cask Selection imported by Japan Import System specially selected for Whisk-e, Bourbon Barrel, C#11/1824) 8/10

Very polished, corporate presentation, scripted, even, which also means generic and fairly bland. Heather seemed to try and one-up Lucy several times, which felt awkward. I thought they could have read the room better: sure, some talked and reacted as if they had discovered whisky two weeks ago, but others have clearly been part of the Arran journey since the distillery opened in Lochranza, thirty years ago, and want a bit more than being told how whisky is made.