29/10/2026 Arran

Arran 23yo 1997/2021 6th Release (53.8%, OB White Stag, Sherry Hogshead & Sherry Puncheon, B#6, 995b): nose: dry, dry, dry almonds and hazelnuts in a lacquered case. Underneath are dried cranberries, dried banana slices sprinkled with red wine and hum. Some breathing time makes the fruits fresher, with peach slices, papaya cubes and dark grapes or currants. Suddenly, the circular blade of a ham slicer appears, clean and freshly oiled. Follows a piece of white wood, likely pine from cheap furniture, cut with the ham slicer, and shedding sawdust. The second nose is full-on currants, raisins and dried cranberries soaked in red wine. At a push, one may find a trace of earth, yet that would be wine-stained earth. Mouth: unctuous and fruity, it has peach nectar, apricot juice, plum smoothie and a couple of rehydrated dried cranberries. Chewing triggers a small eruption of fruits, chiefly plums, punctuated with a strong and fruity Patras wine. It has a spoonful of peanut paste, neither overly oily, nor too bitter, which paves the way for something mineral: it could be fruit stones, but then they are mixed up with pebbles. Further chewing puts more emphasis on the wine-y note. The second sip welcomes gingerbread, mulled wine gone cold and Aachener Printen. Chew some more for a cup of mulled wine to accompany those Printen. It has cinnamon and ginger in reasonable amounts; it is the  texture, in particular, that shouts: 'Printen'. Moving the liquid around the mouth injects musk -- a fox's wet hair drying by the campfire. Finish: big and wine-y in the best possible way. It is fruity (grapes, blush oranges), game-y (sauce grand'veneur, lingonberry compote) and a little tannic. It sticks to the gob like pitch and feels like wine-flavoured sweets, albeit of a heady rather than sweet kind, a heavy wine that has seen a lot of sun. The second gulp doubles down on the fruits -- blush oranges, dark grapes, raisins, dried cranberries, dried figs, all soaked in heady wine, somewhere between sangria and mulled wine. It has cinnamon powder and but a pinch of ginger powder, so it is probably the latter. Well made, if not suitable every day, in this taster's opinion. 8/10 (Thanks for the sample, SOB)