Arran 10 Year Old 2004 Private Cask Whisky Festival Gent

For the 2015 whisky festival in Ghent a single cask of Arran was bottled. The cask was filled on 20th September 2004 (and obviously not 2014 as mistakenly printed on the label) and bottled on 6th November 2014. It is a single sherry hogshead with number 2004/13.

It is a fairly sweet, dark nose. The first thing that comes to mind is brown sugar. Banana in the pan. Some apples and nuts. Something of Rum Agricole. Rich and creamy, but I am not yet blown away.

It is silky soft on the palate. Sweet from dark fruit and other classic sherry influences. Mildly spicy, which I quite like. Think cloves and nutmeg, but also quite some pepper. Marzipan, oranges, nuts. Becomes slightly bitter and even shows a salty edge. The oak does not avoid the fray.

The finish is fairly long, certainly for a malt of such young age. It remains fruity and spicy until the death.

A lovely and interesting, if no so much a great, single cask Arran. It was available in Ghent for only 59 EUR. I grabbed me a bottle. Thanks, Wim, for the sample, thus enabling me to keep my bottle closed a little while longer.

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