Arran 14 Year Old

Arran is a relatively new distillery, founded in 1993. Besides its single malts, it also crafts the Robert Burns blends (his birthplace, Alloway, lies across the water), which I've never tried. I believe it is the only distillery on the island (though of course there used to be many more). The 14 Year Old is non chill filtered and of natural colour, which is very similar to honey.

On the nose I first get banana and ripe fruit, then malt, damp hay and, underlining everything, oak. Water brings out some brine.

It has a creamy mouthfeel (creamier with water), also with a fair amount of oak as well as nutmeg. There is a sweetness to the taste which is very pleasant.

The finish is also oaky and mouth drying, which some water added alleviates. This malt is very rich, nicely balanced between salty and spicy elements, with sweetness brought forth from the oak. You can tell this sat in a barrel for fourteen years, as the oak becomes more prevalent the more I drink. The brine tells you that it comes from an island as well - I love how this whisky tells you its story. But I do wish there was something a little more distinctive about it.

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