Arran Machrie Moor Cask Strength

Like many distilleries, Arran too has a peated version, that was dubbed Machrie Moor, named after the peat fields on the island. The label shows Bran, a dog that – as legend would have it – was chained to the standing stones near that field by the warrior Fingal. The malt that Arran used for the Machrie Moor is peated to 14ppm. That’s quite light. This is the third edition of the Machrie Moor and was bottled at cask strength.

The nose is soft and fruity on peach and lemon, but that is soon overpowered by grasses and a salty, sour hint of halibut and olive oil. Smells very young and reminds me a bit of Ledaig.

It is surprisingly creamy on the palate. And quite powerful too. Again I have to think of Ledaig. The fruit translates into apples and lemons with a hint of pears… suddenly vanilla kicks in with a vengance and makes it go up and down like a yo-yo between salty and sweet. That saltiness is now more like stockfish and seaweeds. I have to say it grows on you. I did not much like the first sip, but the second worked very well, and from the third sip on I actually started liking it.

It lingers quite long in the finish and turns very sweet again.

Well, this certainly is something very differend than the unpeated, fruity Arran, but for the lovers of mildly peated malt, this might be quite pleasant. Goes very well with a chunck of dark chocolate of 85%, trust me.

Find where to buy Arran whisky