Arran Original

One year later: Arran Original has become less vanilla and more grass; I suppose fresher was better, for this malt. I am still impressed, though, that it remains so buttery in flavor (though thin in texture) for only 8 years maturation. Incidentally, I am changing the score in reflection of substantially more experience.

Another quick note, since the available information for this malt is quite sparse: It is an approximately 8 year old malt, bottled a step before the 10 (and then 14) year old versions. The older malts are bottled at 46%, whereas this is 43%. I.e., it is explicitly intended to showcase "the lighter side." It is distributed primarily in France, but is also available in Germany and northern Europe.

I like the re-review a year later! Quick question though - how did you store your whisky in that 12 months? Did you save a sample, or you're just drinking from the original bottle (I guess what I'm asking is, do you attempt to control oxidation in some way)?

My various re-reviewed malts have not been identically controlled (except for all being stored in a cool basement, and with air atmosphere-- no vacuum or argon etc.). In some cases, I saved samples in small vials; but in this particular case of the Arran Original, it was a bottle, and about 1/2 full.

I would be concerned if the remaining spirit was a very low fraction of the container size (because ethanol could evaporate), or if the air fraction was very low (because oxidation would be limited). But I can at least say they were all 25%-75%; So I think they reasonably indicate how ("in which direction") you might expect the malt to evolve... even if the rates have been different.

Okay cool. I haven't controlled mine identically either (very hard to do) however I do try to maintain a fill level (in whatever container size) of 2/3 to 4/5. Usually sampling from a 250ml bottle though which by about the 6 month mark is down to about 2/3 or 1/5 so that's pretty much the limit of my reviews. I try not to open the bottle in between reviews to limit fresh air exposure / vapour exchange.

As people drink at different rates, it's hard to say what a reasonable fill level would or should be after 6 or 12 months. But to at least given an indication, I provide the fill level at each review point and the length of time at that fill level.

And going further on a tangent now - hopefully from all that, some kind of "formula" might be derived to describe the total "oxidation" factor at any given time point. At least that's something I'm working on, but so far I'm finding it's hard to come up with a measure that is easy to interpret e.g. should it be whisky/air ratio over time? or air/whisky ratio over time? How about summarising to one number expressed as "oxidative weeks"? Yeah. Probably over-thinking it but thought I'd share anyway.