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Arran Devil's Punch Bowl Chapter 3 The Fiendish Finale

The Fitting Finale?...

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@WhiskyAndMeReview by @WhiskyAndMe

30th Aug 2014

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Arran Devil's Punch Bowl Chapter 3 The Fiendish Finale
  • Nose
    23
  • Taste
    22
  • Finish
    20
  • Balance
    21
  • Overall
    86

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Distribution of ratings for this: brand user

This has been a month of the 'Devil' with Arran and Bowmore bringing out two Devil'ishly good limited releases into the market. So I decided to pit the two the devil's against each other. Here's what I thought of the Arran first..

Nose: The nose which was the best part of this one.. was a exceptionally pleasing medley of fruits and spices.. Apple, bananas.. with cinnamon's and vanilla. As it opens up further you get some dried black raisins and towards the end .. what remains is some refreshing lemon zest.

I kept it aside with a few drops of water in it.. and that brought out a lot of ripe oranges and wood..

Each of those French Oak.. Bourbon and Sherry casks used for maturing this one.. made their presence clearly felt here.

Palate: The palate does have more of those fruits coming through.. although this time it was harder to point out which ones exactly.. I'd say they were definitely more tropical .. There were also some dark chocolatey flavors coming through with an interesting orangy tang to it. A sprinkling of white pepper and some woody notes were part of the mix too. Overall the palate is fairly creamy with a hint of dryness that begins to appear initially but it loses this completely and just gets a lot more creamier once it marries the tiny bit of water that I'd put in.

Finish: The finish wasn't too long.. but not too short either.. a bit of the spices and some mint.. that was more like toothpaste to be honest..

Overall this is indeed was a fine finale.. to what has now become somewhat of an iconic series from this young distillery. Whether or not it has been better than the previous two editions of this series.. is for you to decide.. :)

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4 comments

@vanPelt
vanPelt commented

Thanks for this! It helps me compare against my own preliminary notes: connosr.com/wall/discussion/…

You picked up a lot more fruit than I did, whereas for me the malt was dominated by a thin "high pitch" cyanide-like bitterness. Did you get that fresh almond sensation too, or am I crazy? BTW, Did you ever get to try the earlier 2 chapters?

10 years ago 0

@WhiskyAndMe
WhiskyAndMe commented

@vanPelt.. thank you for writing in.. unfortunately I didn't see your discussion earlier or would have posted my comments there.. yes I did get a lot of fruit n spices in mine.. as for the almond.. do you mean on the palate? Maybe there was some.. will need to revisit it though to find out. As for the previous chapters.. I've tried Chapter 2... although I did quite appreciate it the first time.. the second time I had it I really liked it.. in fact better than this one (connosr.com/reviews/arran/…).. and I'm beginning to think that might hold true for this one too.. and yes I do agree with you that water does change the complexion of this one quite a bit.. especially if it is let to settle for a while..

10 years ago 0

@vanPelt
vanPelt commented

Thanks again @TrailingTheMalt , I mostly meant the palate, but to me the nose is quite similar anyway. It could be the dry cognac influence that I'm tasting as thin bitter almond-- for me it is actually the main theme, especially from the fresh bottle. (Unfortunately!) To my lips, there are no prominent (rich) fruits, but I hope that will change when I come back to the bottle, after a couple of months!

10 years ago 0

@WhiskyAndMe
WhiskyAndMe commented

@vanPelt.. Could the bitterness be from a different nut.. possibly more like a walnut? .. Not sure..cus usually I associate the nutty bitterness to walnuts.. nevertheless.. I'll b waiting to hear from your end the next time u try it.. btw as Sherry releases go.. the new Bowmore Devil's Cask Batch 2.. that I tried.. was really nice too (in fact better than this for me)..have you had it? If not.. then its definitely worth a try.. I did put my thoughts on it in the other review..

10 years ago 0