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Arran 12 Year Old Cask Strength Batch 5

Tropical

2 688

@casualtortureReview by @casualtorture

18th Nov 2018

1

  • Nose
    23
  • Taste
    23
  • Finish
    23
  • Balance
    19
  • Overall
    88

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Distribution of ratings for this: brand user

Arran is a top 3 distillery for me. Possibly my favorite. Out of the 14 whiskies I have right now, 4 are Arran. Needless to say, I like Arran.

This 12yo CS has been on my wish list for a while and I finally found one a few weeks ago. This is batch 5, a large batch relatively speaking, with 18,000 bottles released in May 2015.

Bottled at 52.9%, this has been opened for 2 weeks and is about 3/4 full. This review sample will be neat in a glencairn, and has been sitting for about 30min

Nose: Tropical fruits. Grilled pineapple, mango, black grapes, ripe citrus. Definately vanilla white cake and honey. Near the end there is a tad bit of that sea salt and brine note that I enjoy so much from the 14 but it is not as prominent here as the fruit and vanilla cake overwhelm it. Sweet, no alcohol nip at all.

Palate: Loads of very ripe tropical fruit. Apricot, mango, mandarin oranges, pineapple, black grapes, figs, a bit of almond butter and marzipan. Creamy texture and no burn, no one would guess this was nearly 53%. The one thing I miss? That island sea breeze. I really want some salinity or brine that I am accustomed to in Arran whiskies.

Finish: Ripe oranges and vanilla white cake. Medium-long in length.

Overall: This is enjoyable. I need to be in the Bahamas drinking this. I might save the rest for summer. It's a bit of a one trick pony as there isn't much savory to balance out the tropical sweetness. It longs for some island sea notes. Thankfully what is there is good. It does not need water at all. However, it does need air. I was underwhelmed when I opened this a few weeks ago. Air has really opened it up (this glass also sat for a while.) I will say this against it, at $70usd, Laphroig 10CS destroys this. (Different styles I know but same price.) Also, would I buy this again if the 14 were sitting next to it for a similar/lower price? Absolutely not. The 14 is much more balanced and complex (it's just not cask strength.)

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6 comments

@Nozinan
Nozinan commented

Interesting review. I noticed that my review is listed on the bottom. I reviewed the same batch and gave it a lower score. I had a 30 cc MoM sample. I wonder if I had had a full bottle and allowed it time like you did, if it might have turned out better.

Problem is, who wants to drop $100 on a bottle that "might" get better?

5 years ago 1Who liked this?

@casualtorture
casualtorture commented

@Nozinan I'm not sure I'd buy this at $100 anyway. That seems fairly steep.

5 years ago 0

@Nozinan
Nozinan commented

@casualtorture That's $100 Canadian, so about $7.50 US.... ;)

5 years ago 1Who liked this?

@Nozinan
Nozinan commented

@casualtorture Left brain is responsible for math, not right...

Probably about $75 US plus or minus variations based on taxes.

5 years ago 0

@casualtorture
casualtorture commented

@Nozinan expressionless

does it make it worse that I work in finance and deal with FX rates on a daily basis? haha

5 years ago 1Who liked this?

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