ABV: 50 %
Origin: Islands
Type: Single Malt
Bottles in collection: 0
Emptied bottles: 0
Impression: 3/5

Tasting notes
Nose: This is peaty and sour. At first there’s a hefty, yet slightly brittle, peatiness. Underneath lies a sweet and sour honey and lemon mix. The whole thing feels very clean and well made but it is quite simple and straight forward. There’s vanilla, and an ashy side to the peat is coming through, but not much more than that. When it starts to settle in the glass there’s oakiness slowly emerging around the edges. This is a nice nose which feels decently balanced but it lacks complexity and feels a bit boring.

Mouth: It starts out with a much bigger and powerful character compared to the nose. It’s peppery and quite bitter in the background. In the middle the peatiness feels chewy and unrefined. After a while there’s a return of the vanilla. The oakiness is pushing through strong at this point and the whole comes through as a bit unpleasant. Underneath there’s a hint of the sweet and sour notes and a thin green apple note. There’s a weird undefined note floating around in the back as well.

Finish: The spicyness shifts to become a pepparmint throughout the transition. When it settles the peat once again turns a bit brittle and has no chance against a quite strong oakiness. It feels unbalanced and the lack of age is really shining through here. There are notes of leather and hay, but all in all it’s just the oakiness which is left in the end. It’s a bland oakiness which lacks character. This is a good inaugural release which shows some promise going forward. But this as a standalone whisky is not the best thing in the world.

Additional information
This whisky is the first release from Arran’s new distillery. It was aged in ex-bourbon barrels. The PPM value is 50. 10 000 bottles was released. It’s unchillfiltered and has natural colour.

If you like my reviews and wish to offer a small donation, please click the ”donate” button below!