Arran Sherry Single Cask (11 Years Old) Review

Distilled & Bottled by Arran

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Region: Highlands

Type: Single Malt

ABV: 56.2%

Age: 11yrs

Color: dark copper

The Arran Distillery was founded in 1994 which makes it a relative newcomer among the distilleries of Scotland. Today we’re looking at a bottle that was distilled only a few years later in February of 1998.

The bottle’s hand written details have somewhat faded, but we can still discern that this is a single sherry cask aged for 11 years which Arran bottled in November of 2009 making this whisky a bit of a time capsule and allowing us to see what one of Arran’s sherried offerings tasted like over a decade ago. And as Arran is a quality distillery, this bottle comes to us with neither chill filtration or any added coloring.

Tasting Notes

Nose: A malty and sweet start with notes of brown sugar and toasted barley sugars. Scents of a salad of cooked fruit and toasted nuts arrives to add delicious layers of aroma. There’s also a nice peppery burst of fresh cracked black pepper and the occasional (and unfortunate) waft of soiled hay that just keeps this nose from perfection.

Palate: Beautiful viscosity on the palate which is accompanied by lots of sweetness along with ripe fruit and barley cereal. It’s all under-pinned by a nice wood spice character to give the whisky its backbone.

Finish: Good length to a finish that starts with rich baking chocolate accompanied by raisin and fig cookies, I also get a dash of cinnamon followed by more peppery spice. Delicious!

Rating: 8/10, Great

Conclusion: This is very nice whisky, but I can’t help but wonder if that jarring, soiled hay note existed back in 2009 when this was bottled. It’s strange and holds this Arran back from being a solid 9, but it mercifully only shows up intermittently on the nose.

Yet despite that hay note, this is still delicious whisky. Drinking this bottle has me interested in comparing a modern day bottle of Arran’s Bodega to see how Arran’s modern sherry bottlings hold up. I hope to review a lot more Arran in 2022!

Ratings | Description

1 | Undrinkable
2 | Bad
3 | Poor
4 | Below Average
5 | Average
6 | Above Average
7 | Very Good
8 | Great
9 | Excellent
10| Perfect