This 17 year old Arran was recently released and bottled exclusively for the Netherlands. You see these Premium Cask bottlings appear regularly, which are all specially bottled for importers (in this case Van Wees) or shops. They all score very high and so I was curious how this Dutch edition would be.
In any case, I have reviewed far too few Arran bottlings. It just wasn’t really on my radar. No special reason, but with so much whisky out there, you simply can’t try everything. However, I do want to change that. So if you can recommend me something from the standard range, for example, I’d love to hear it!
This Arran has matured in a sherry cask and is bottled at 54.7% ABV. Cask no. 2003/32.
Arran 17 year old tasting notes:
Nose: dried fruits at first, such as raisins and plums. Sweet dates. Followed by a faint hint of leather and tobacco leaves. Oranges, but red apples as well. Honey and caramel fudge. And then, weirdly enough, I get sauerkraut. Which I don’t mind, but a strange one! Later also dark chocolate and a hint of roasted coffee beans.
Taste: less fruity than the nose. But the dried fruits can be found here as well, mostly towards raisins. Toffee and caramel fudge. Honey too. A touch of burnt sugar. Dark chocolate. Followed by spices, such as chilli peppers and nutmeg.
Finish: mid-long to long with the same spices and dark chocolate and toffee. Raisins too. Slightly herbal too, thyme comes to mind.
Really good. It is quite spicy in the end though, but a few drops of water will make it softer. This is a sherry-matured whisky done well!
Photo credit: Whiskybase
