Arran 18 Years Old 1996 (55.3%, Whiskybroker, HH #884 & PX octave finish, 81 Bottles, 2015)

Whisky Review

• Arran Distillery
• Whiskybroker
• Finished in Pedro Ximenez (PX) cask 884
• 55.3% ABV
• £47.45
• Score: 89/100

What they say:

A single cask bottling of Arran malt whisky from Whiskybroker Limited. Distilled on the 5th August 1996 filled into a hogshead cask and finished in an oloroso sherry octave and later bottled at natural cask strength on the 15th January 2015, producing 81 bottles at outturn.

What I say:

The final in the trinity of new 18 year old Arran bottlings released January 2015 by Whiskybroker was finished in a Pedro Ximenez conditioned Octave cask, again relinquishing just over 80 bottles.

Colour:

Rubrous amber gold (11/20), very slow small droplets leave fine trails

Nose:

Deep and dark and musty, pungent and almost dank, bitter chocolate and spiced gingerbread, lots of red fruits, plum and strawberry, hints of treacle toffee and molasses, a little fig jam and chutney in here too, a nice musty dunnage warehouse of oak wood and  worn leather couch

Taste:

Warming, gently spiced dried fruit mix, more fig chutney, Christmas cake or pudding soaked in Cointreau rather than rum, orange and ginger marmalade on brown bread toast and red liquorice, toffee oak wood and some barley malt give way to dark cherry liqeuer chocolates and  roasted coffee beans

Finish:

Medium-long, sticky sweet and jammy dried fruits, beeswax or polished oak wood

Overall:

Possibly the best of the 3 Arran 18 year old expressions in my opinion, though this may have been subject to my PX bias. It is not quite as nutty and chocolatey as some but delivers a lot of flavour in depth and well structured. The fruit and malt are a lot darker than usual for Arran, which is a superb!