Whisky Review: Arran Port Cask Finish

Only a few years ago, the Isle of Arran Distillery was (in)famous for its vast range of cask finished whiskies. As a relatively new distillery, this was a reasonable strategy - their single malts were only so old and cask finishes were a way to embellish younger stock.

Since then, the distillery has significantly pulled back to a core of cask finishes that they believe work best with their spirit. Each expression starts with whisky that has spent at least 8 years in ex-bourbon barrels before it is transferred to ex-wine casks. The finishing period varies significantly, from months to years, as the spirit soaks up new flavors. Thus there isn't a defined 'age' for the whisky - it is adjusted depending on how the spirit is maturing. All of Arran's cask finished whiskies are bottled at 50% ABV without chill filtration.

Arran Port Cask Finish

Nose: a layer of port floating over malt, chocolate raisins, a little vanilla, red berries, a bit of floral soap, mineral/flinty. After adding a few drops of water, there are brighter fruits, fudge-ier port/wine notes, and something purple.

Taste: rather hot throughout, somewhat thin up front, richer wine and oak mid-palate, gets malty at the back - becoming sweeter and woodier with time. After dilution, the heat diminishes a lot, there is more chocolate with integrated oak, the malt gets tucked inside the wine, and a hefty dose of black pepper comes out.

Finish: light port and wood influence, malty

While I really enjoyed this whisky, I feel like its appeal is somewhat circumscribed. The alcoholic heat of the undiluted palate can be rather off-putting, though only a small amount of water is necessary for the spirit to hit its stride. While it may just be that I got a rougher batch (bottled 10/8/10), it felt like this might be better at 48% or even 46%, which would make it much more approachable.

With that said, I think Arran has a good thing going here. The port is present without being dominant, with the oak tannins providing a nice counterpoint to the sweeter wine notes, and the chocolate notes trend towards dark rather than milk, so it's not quite the dessert malt that you might expect. Just make sure to give it a try before buying a bottle to be sure that it's going to jibe with your tastes. As a plus, if you live in Oregon, this whisky is only $49 right now, which makes it a pretty good deal in this day and age.

This makes me look forward to trying the other Arran cask finishes to see how they do with the distillery's malt.

Scotland 2013: Arran to Campbeltown

My last (half) day on Arran dawned damp once again, with heavier rain starting to come down. After wolfing down another Scottish breakfast, I decided to swing by the Isle of Arran Distillery again for a second round of drams, both because there were more I wanted to try (my liver can only take so much in one day) and because the wind was predicted to shift from the south to the west around mid-day. As I was planning on riding south down the Kintyre Peninsula, a crosswind sounded preferable to a headwind.

After packing up and settling my bill, I road the couple of miles down the road to the distillery and plopped myself down in their café once again. Getting through a full flight of cask strength whiskies took some doing, but I managed. By then it was around noon, so I had lunch there as well, to make sure I had enough food in me for the upcoming ride.

The wind had switched directions, but was still blowing fairly hard when I finally made it down to the ferry dock. Rain was coming down sporadically, but not too badly. I had to wait for a few minutes until the ferry came in, by which time a handful of other cyclists had joined me at the dock.

When it arrived, we piled on alongside a few cars for the short trip to Kintyre. I chatted with some of the other cyclists, who were headed to the other side of the peninsula to catch another ferry to the Isle of Gigha. The rain pick up a bit and the wind made for something of a rough ride, but we made it to the other side without incident.

Saying goodbye to Arran

When we finally got to Claonaig, I made a fateful decision. Ignoring James Saxon's advice, I decided to take the B road down Kintyre. My logic was thus: it was ~10 miles shorter by the B road compared to riding across to Kennacraig and back down the west side via the A road, the wind was coming out of the west, so being on the east side would shelter me from the worst of it. Adding to that, the B road is the designated cycling route on the peninsula, so the powers that be thought it was a decent way to go. Oh, how foolish I was...

To put it mildly, the B road is almost all up and down, with sections ranging up to 14% grades. I ended up getting off my bike to walk up them and going down was a sufficiently harrowing experience with cantilever brakes and 40 pounds of gear that it's not something I would care to repeat. While the road itself was in reasonably good shape, it was single track most of the way and cars passed me on average every 5-10 minutes, which made for a lot of tricky negotiation. Thankfully almost all of them were very polite, but one never knows how it's going to go down, so it was fairly stressful. Add into this sporadic rain, which was sometimes fairly heavy, and it was not a pleasant experience.

The usual standard of pavement on the B road

There are a lot of sheep on Kintyre

The only real argument for taking the east side is that there are some great views of Arran from across the water. However, for much of the ride, the road is actually out of sight of the water, passing through forested hills and valleys.

Adding to the fun, the southern end of the peninsula is studded with headlands and bays, which, if you don't have functioning GPS, makes it all too easy to get your hopes up that the next one is the last. I got faked out a few times, such as at Penniver, which had the added bonus of a long climb out of town.

Not my final destination

To cap my ride, a soaking rain started when I was just north of Campbeltown. I was getting pretty tired and hungry by this point. I had underestimated the difficulty of the ride, as 30 flat miles wouldn't have been a big deal, but the relentless climbs had really taken it out of me. I had been doing fairly well up to that point, but I was good and bedraggled with only a few miles left to go.

Sighting Davaar Island, which sits in Campbeltown's bay

One of the few bright spots during my final push was catching a waft of whisky in the air as I rode by Glen Scotia. I got a bit lost in downtown Campbeltown, but it didn't take me too long to reorient and find Earadale B&B, where I would be staying for the next couple of nights. Jean greeted me at the door and helped me to stash my bike out back. After that I climbed the stairs to find a very snug and well appointed room.

View out of my window at the public library

The cork floor is a really nice touch

I was pleasantly surprised by the accommodations, as it was also the cheapest room I stayed in during the trip.

After a much-needed shower and change of clothes, I stumbled back outside in search of dinner. The Taj-Mahal restaurant was just around the block and Indian food sounded rather good at the time. The meal was pleasant and reasonably priced, though it was a bit too sweet and underspiced for my liking. Still, there was a delicious piece of naan that was bigger than my face, which went a long way towards making up for all the calories I had burned earlier in the day, so I wasn't too bothered.

After dinner, I wandered around the harbor to let dinner settle before I went to bed.

I continued wandering through town as the sun set, almost but not quite getting lost. Finally, I made it back to Earadale and crashed into bed. It had been a long, hard day, but Springbank beckoned...

Scotland 2013: Isle of Arran Distillery Tour

The day dawned cool and overcast, but I was ready to get an early start. Once again, I had scheduled a 10 AM tour at a distillery, though in this case it was just a 2 mile walk down one road instead of a 15 mile ride with lots of navigation.

Breakfast was the full Scottish affair, complete with haggis, which I found to be quite tasty. Castlekirk's dining room looks out over Lochranza Castle, which certainly enhanced the experience.

Pleasantly full, I strolled down the road towards the distillery. I passed by the local golf course and a lovely little burn that rolled down towards the bay. A light mist was falling, which made things damp but not uncomfortable.

I arrived at the distillery a bit before opening time, which gave me an opportunity to take lots of pictures.

No eagles in sight, unfortunately

The distillery's setting is absolutely everything you could want - craggy, green hills form a valley leading to the sea, with water flowing by from lochs and burns up above. Though I wasn't lucky enough to see them while I was there, a pair of Golden eagles live above the distillery and are often glimpsed flying in the area. As an added bonus when you're producing lots of flammable liquids, it's also right across the street from the local fire station.

I didn't have too long to wait after the visitor center's doors opened before I was ushered off on the tour by Stewart, our guide for the morning. We began with a short video, introducing the story of the distillery, which was accompanied by a dram of the excellent 14 Year.

We all trooped into Arran's stillhouse, which contains the whole production process from start to finish. All of their malt is shipped in, as the island is too wet to grow good barley. The majority is unpeated malt, with smaller amounts of peated malt (which is blended with unpeated malt to hit a 12 PPM average) and one-offs like their Bere barley project. The two very different kinds of malt require Arran to have a rotating production schedule - unpeated whisky is made for most of the year, then a small number of runs of peated spirit are made just before the quiet season when they can shut down and clean out their stills in preparation for producing unpeated spirit again.

After milling and mashing, the wort is fermented to 6-8% ABV, then piped to their wash still. At 13,000 L, each mash gives enough liquid for several charges of the 7,100 L wash still. The output of the wash still, called low wines, has an ABV of ~23% and is sent to the low wines receiver. The low wines are then charged into the smaller 4,300 L spirit still and redistilled. Three cuts are made: from 80-74% alcohol is the foreshots, which contain lighter compounds like methanol and acetone that are sent back to the low wines receiver for redistillation; 74-63.5% alcohol is the hearts, which are the potable spirit and are sent to the intermediate receiver; lastly, 63.5-26% alcohol is the feints, which contain heavier compounds like fusel oils are also sent to the low wines receiver for redistillation. Arran's tall, narrow-necked stills with flat lyne arms plus the use of condensers instead of worm tubs give lots of reflux and copper contact to produce a relatively light and grassy spirit.

At that point the spirit is filled into casks, primarily ex-bourbon and ex-sherry. Though Arran was an early and vigorous adopter of the cask-finishing trend over the last ten years, they have since backed off a bit, focusing on a small core of finishes that seem to agree with their spirit (port, sauternes, and Amarone wine). However these finishes tend to occur after the spirit has already matured in ex-bourbon casks for about eight years rather than the wine casks being filled right off the still.

The only disappointing part of the tour was that we were not able to see the inside of Arran's warehouses. Only the high end Gold Tours get to go inside and they require group reservations. As I was traveling by myself and there weren't any Gold Tours that day for me to glom onto, I was out of luck. I wanted to be able to do some cask tasting, since I really enjoyed the Arran Sherry Single Cask I reviewed last year, but it was not to be.

The tour ended in the tasting room, where we were offered samples of the Arran Gold cream liqueur. I passed on the liqueur, but did correct some impressions that I had about Arran's whiskies. The 10 Year is made from 100% ex-sherry casks, which I incorrectly thought was a mix of ex-bourbon and ex-sherry cask whisky. This is also true of their new 12 Year Cask Strength release. The 14 Year and new 16 Year releases are, however, roughly even mixtures of ex-bourbon and ex-sherry casks.

After the tour, I had lunch at the distillery - be sure to have a bite to eat if you ever visit as the food is quite tasty. Afterwards I had a round of drams (tasting notes coming later) and periodically chatted with Faye, an Arran employee I had previously talked to via email and Twitter. She was unfailing welcoming while I was at the distillery and asked a lot of questions about my trip and this blog. Being recognized in a land of strangers is no small thing.

After wrapping up my drams, I wandered back down the road and decided to explore a bit around Lochranza. I had originally hoped to ride around the island, but between the long day before and the iffy weather, a walk seemed like a safer bet.

Looking north to the mouth of the bay

Looking south towards the interior of the island

After dinner at a local hotel I decided to make an early night again, since I was looking at a lot of miles of riding the next day to get down the Kintyre Peninsula to Campbeltown.

Scotland 2013: Auchentoshan and Traveling to Arran

Trying to figure out how best to pack my panniers - a daily exercise

My first full day in Scotland... I woke up bright and early, reasonably well-rested and ready to head off into the unknown. I had two goals to accomplish: ride ~15 miles to Auchentoshan distillery for a tour, then get to Lochranza on the Isle of Arran by some combination of train, ferry, and biking.

After a smallish breakfast, I set out to get to my 10 AM tour of Auchentoshan. I had a few different options for how to get there, but went with more or less reversing course from the day before - down Byres to the river, then taking the cycle route paralleling Dumbarton until it petered out around Clydebank. At that point I more or less threw up my hands and got on Dumbarton, taking ease of navigation over the threat of cars not noticing me on a relatively busy road. I overshot the turn to Mountblow Road by a bit, but thankfully caught the mistake fairly quickly and got myself turned around. Thankfully I was able to ride the sidewalk along the A82 instead of having to get into traffic, then quickly ducked down the private road to Auchentoshan with plenty of time to spare.

The man at the gate was quite nice and promised to watch out for my bike if I propped it up by his shed. From there I wandered about the distillery buildings for a bit and eventually found my way to the visitor center.

There was a fairly large group of men waiting for a private tour, but I lucked out and there was only one other couple waiting around for the 10 AM standard tour. Rose greeted the three of us and took us off to see the Auchentoshan process. Rather than saddle you with the details, I'll point you towards Auchentoshan's very detailed website that covers most of what you'd want to know.

There are a few tidbits I can add, such as the picture right above. That middle bottle is blue for a reason - the foreshots, which contain lots of nasty chemicals like methanol and acetone, take so much copper sulfate out of the stills that it colors the liquid. You can also see it in the spirit safes as a blue-green patina around the chutes. This is why stills wear out - the copper is literally being stripped out of them molecule by molecule every time they're used.

After seeing their production process, we took a quick look through a dunnage warehouse. Auchentoshan only ages some of its spirit on site, with the rest going to the parent company Morrison Bowmore's Springburn Bond site in Glasgow, which is also where all of their whisky is bottled. A few more interesting things I learned during the tour:

Auchentoshan proofs all of their whisky with distilled water, so there's none of the "pure Highland/Island/whathaveyou water" imparting flavor directly to their non-cask strength bottles.

When their coopers rework ex-bourbon barrels into hogsheads, they put new oak heads on the casks to impart extra flavor, making an interesting hybrid of new and refill oak. This was also the first place that confirmed the fact that most sherry casks used in the whisky industry are now made custom - casks tend to be built new, seasoned with sherry destined for vingear, then emptied and shipped to Scotland. So despite all the talk of 'top-quality sherry casks' and whatnot, very few of them will have been filled with top of the line sherry. Ultimately this makes sense, since sherry bodegas are less interested in wood extraction than scotch whisky distillers. Sherry primarily gains flavor via oxidation, so the bodegas would rather use very old casks without a lot left in the wood to extract. Scotch whisky distillers want more active casks that will impart a lot of flavor to the spirit. However, this does cost a lot of money - Rose quoted a price of ~£500 for a custom sherry butt.

After our tour through the warehouse, we dropped into the tasting lounge, where Rose poured us samples of various Auchentoshan whiskies. Because we were such a small group, she actually offered to let us try whatever we wanted from the core lineup, rather than just the standard Three Wood pour. Having tried the 12, 18, and Three Wood earlier this year, I went for the 21 Year. Since I didn't have proper glassware I wasn't able to get detailed tasting notes, but my impression was that it was a bit too woody in comparison to the 18 Year that I absolutely adore. The 21 also has some sherry casks added to the mix, which didn't help when compared again the bourbon wood clarity of the 18. While a transcendent experience would have been lovely, there is something satisfying about enjoying a younger and more affordable whisky over than an older one.

After snagging a small single cask bottle of Auchentoshan at the visitor's center (haven't cracked it yet, so you'll have to wait for tasting notes), I packed my things up again and prepared to ride back into Glasgow. I took a slightly different route back after finding the Firth & Clyde Canal path, which started with the tiniest set of locks I've ever seen.

The water in the canal is almost level with the bridge, so instead of building a higher bridge they installed a set of locks to allow boats to pass underneath. While not quick, it's an ingenious solution that allowed the other infrastructure to stay in place. I continued along the path for a number of miles, until the pavement ran out and I was forced to head back onto the roads. I was saved by the Scot Guide app on my phone, as Google Maps had reset, leaving me without any other way to navigate (yes, I did have a paper map, but it was buried somewhere in my panniers). I can't recommend it enough if you're going to Scotland, as it stores maps offline and thus doesn't require cellular or WiFi service to work. After some circumlocution, I eventually made my way into the city center. Unfortunately it had taken me a lot more time than I had planned on, so I had to grab some yogurt for a quick lunch - setting a bad precedent for the rest of the trip - before navigating my way to Glasgow Central Station. There I purchased tickets to Ardrossan Harbour so I could catch a ferry to the Isle of Arran. The train ride was fairly uneventful, though I enjoyed watching the countryside slide by.

The train pulled into the last stop just in time for me to purchase tickets for the ferry and walk on board. I tied up my bike and slipped upstairs to the top deck.

Saying goodbye to the mainland for a bit

The weather was windy but dry and relatively warm, which I appreciated since I knew I had more miles to ride before the end of the day. We disembarked at Brodick, where I stocked up on a few essentials that I had forgotten and tucked into a late lunch/early dinner to refuel before I got back on my bike. The chili I had was... palatable... but then, I'm not sure how much I expected of TexMex cooking half a world away. The important part was that it was filling, so I set off with a reasonably full belly.

The opening miles of the road from Brodick to Lochranza were relatively flat and in decent shape compared to what I was expecting - everything I had read and heard suggested that island roads in Scotland tended to be a mess. The views were almost universally excellent.

The view across Brodick's harbor as the next CalMac ferry comes in

Resting in a small park a few miles along the road

The road continued to be pleasant until I reached North Glen Sannox. It was an astoundingly beautiful valley, but the road became a long and unrelenting uphill slog. Much of this was due to it being my first real day out, the fact that I had already ridden a respectable number of miles that morning, and not eating lunch at the proper time. Unfortunately this also meant that I didn't get as many pictures as I would have liked, but others have done as well or better than I could have.

The downhill descent on the other side was a little bit harrowing, as it had gotten a bit damp and it was both long and steep. Thankfully my brakes held out and it was only a little bit further to reach Lochranza. My first look across the bay was gorgeous, with the old castle standing watch over the sea.

I finally reached my destination, the Castlekirk B&B, where I found that a) I was the only person scheduled to stay there and b) the proprietor was taking off for a vacation, leaving me in her friend's hands. After being shown to my small but comfortable room, I more or less flopped over and went to sleep after such a long day.

Whisky Review: Arran Sherry Single Cask #391

This is another whisky from the Isle of Arran distillery. While the previous offerings I reviewed were standard age dated bottlings of whisky from both ex-bourbon and ex-sherry casks, this one is a single cask whisky aged exclusively in an ex-sherry cask. My bottle comes from cask #391 which was distilled on 3/19/97 and bottled on 6/16/08 at its full cask strength of 55.4% ABV. Though I was able to get in touch with the distillery, they weren't able to tell me whether this one came from a first fill or refill sherry cask. Sadly it seems that the info got lost somewhere in the intervening years. Given that it was distilled only a couple of years after they opened their doors, I can't begrudge them a few slip ups.

Arran Sherry Single Cask #391


Nose: big milk chocolate, Oloroso sherry, raisins, brown sugar, maple syrup, rum, chili pepper, malt, floral perfume, a healthy slug of vanilla. After adding a bit of water it becomes maltier and more bourbon-like with a hint of cinnamon

Taste: honey, brown sugar and sweet milk chocolate tinged with chili pepper up front, which becomes drier and slightly more bitter chocolate with sherry mid-palate, leading into a huge explosion of chili pepper

Finish: sweet chili pepper, malt, sherry, and bittersweet chocolate

As I mentioned above, I wasn't able to find out definitively whether this was from a first fill or a refill cask, but my guess is that it was a refill, maybe even third fill, cask. The nose reminds me a bit of Aberlour's double cask whisky, both in terms of the malty floral perfume notes in the nose and, more importantly, in that the sherry is a obvious presence, but doesn't overwhelm the whisky. This is still distinctively Arran.

The flavors in this whisky are simply immense. Everything is cranked up to 11. While definitely a sweet whisky, the explosion of pepper near the back of the mouth keeps it from being unidimensional and reminds me a lot of Mayan mousse (chili pepper dusted chocolate). The chili pepper flavor actually confused me initially because it was so strong that I thought it was just the high-proof of the spirit coming through and burning my mouth. Not a bit of it, as this whisky is actually shockingly smooth for all its burley character.

This whisky is an interesting contrast to some of the Speyside cask strength sherry bombs I've had before. As I mentioned above, the sherry influence on this Arran is less in your face. My guess is that the Speysiders contain a significant amount of whisky that is aged in first-fill ex-sherry casks, which means that the sherry influence on those whiskies is much more assertive. This makes me interested in trying Arran's Premium Sherry Cask whisky, which is aged in first-fill casks, for some good ol' compare and contrast.

I would highly encourage you to seek out Arran Sherry Single Cask. As single barrel releases, they're obviously going to vary from cask to cask, so the smells and flavors might not be exactly the same as what I reported above. Additionally, they were all limited release and are getting a bit tricky to find, but are well worth it if you can put your hands on a bottle.

Whisky Review: Arran 14 Year

I reviewed the younger 10 Year whisky from Arran a few months back, so now it's time for it's elder sibling. I got very lucky and was able to get my hands on these two whiskies for very reasonable prices because the state of Oregon has a bit of a glut of Arran and decided to heavily discount them. The 14 Year runs in the mid-70s most of the time, but has been available for only $50 for the last few months. Unfortunately that comes to an end on March 1st, so if this sounds like a scotch you'd like to try and you live in the NW, I'd suggest picking up a bottle sooner rather than later.

Like the 10 Year, the Arran 14 Year is bottled at 46% without chill filtration, giving is a decent amount of heft and a nice mouth feel. It's somewhat inconsequential, but I have to hand it to the people who do the packaging for Arran. The standing stone motif is a nice touch. It's a very good balance between showy and simple, which lets it stand out on the shelf without overreaching. Nicely done.

Arran 14 Year


Nose: milk chocolate, mint, orange peel, a hint of vegetal peat, malt, a touch of sherry and rum

Taste: a burst of citrus, raspberry and mint up front, which glides into sweet chocolate malt and dark berries mid-palate and back, with allspice, cinnamon, sherry, peat and pepper leading into the finish, which becomes more intensely honey sweet throughout the palate and diminished peat influence after dilution

Finish: honey, bittersweet chocolate malt with slightly bitter peat, dark fruit and black pepper

This is a really excellent whisky. With that said, I think I actually like the Arran 10 Year a bit better. The 14 Year cranks up the sweetness of the 10 Year while losing some of the peat and other Island influence that provided such a nice balance in the 10. If you live in Oregon or can make it here by the end of the month, it's mostly going to be a matter of personal taste. There's only a $10 difference between the two expressions right now. But once March rolls around, the 10 Year will become a much better deal, especially if you order it online.

Whisky Review: Arran 10 Year

The Arran Distillery has the distinction of being one of the newest scotch whisky distilleries, having opened only in 1995. Located on the Isle of Arran off of the west coast of Scotland, this was also the first legal distillery built on the island in 150 years. This doesn't mean that there wasn't any whisky being produced on the island during that century and a half, it's just that it was all illegal. The distillery was established at its current site due to a convergence of favorable conditions including excellent water and a climate warmed by the Gulf Stream, which makes islands on the west coast of Scotland dramatically warmer than those on the east coast.

But what  really matters is how the whisky tastes.

Arran 10 Year


Nose: briny sea water, light sherry, a hint of tropical fruits and vegetal peat, sweet vanilla, milk chocolate, raisins, apples and a bit of umami, which gains a bit more green fruit, brown sugar and orange peel with a few drops of water

Taste: intense honey up front, a spicy mid-palate followed by a touch of sherry, citrus and peat, with mint throughout, which becomes somewhat more robust and gains a creamier mouthfeel after the addition of water

Finish: short, with malt and sherry, transforming into nutmeg and peaty chocolate after adding water

One of the great things about Arran is that all of their whiskies are bottled at at least 46% and are un-chill filtered. The slightly higher than normal proof gives them plenty of room for adding water. Being un-chill filtered leaves a lot of the tasty oils that also contribute to the wonderful mouthfeel of this whisky.

What I find most interesting about the Arran 10 Year is the obvious peat notes, which are odd given that the malt is unpeated. However, as the peat seems to be more vegetal rather than being smoky, my guess is that this is due to the water, which the distillery claims is naturally filtered through peat, rather than the malt. The brininess is another interesting feature, which isn't something I've experienced before in whisky, though it does get talked about frequently with reference to Islay single malts. Maybe I'll actually have to try one of those, though hopefully I can find one that isn't a complete smoke bomb.

Overall I'd say that this single malt shares a fair number of flavor characteristics with another one of my favorites, Highland Park 12 Year. However the Arran is a little bit less aggressive and adds some other flavors to the mix. As the gift pack is currently running right around $40 here in Oregon, it's even a pretty good buy. As the Arran 14 Year has been discounted down to a measly $50, I also picked up the older bottling and should be reviewing it soon.