Arran 10

Now it feels like there has been a long break since I have put out a full written review so ignore how awful my attempt at typing is. The reason for the delay is I foolishly wanted to take a stab at doing a YouTube review. In short, it didn’t go well.

Anywho speaking on YouTube I am reviewing the great Ralfy’s Whisky of the Year 2021, the 10 year old Arran release. If you don’t know who the almighty Ralfy is, I would thoroughly recommend checking him out!

Overall Arran is currently riding a huge wave of praise and to be honest from reviewing this I can see why.

Experience

I have seen the pointy branding of the past Arran brand but it never really court my eye. That is until I saw their gold embellished rebrand in 2019/2020. Now I was new to the full extent of the Whisky World then but it seemed to be accepted with open arms. Impressive considering every logo revamp are bashed and beaten down by Dribbble based designers.

Their new brand reflects the eagles (no not the band) that made Lochranza their home which even caused the building work of the distillery to come to a brief halt. It is great that they turned what must have been a remarkably frustrating time and embraced it as part of their identity.

An extra point must be given for having braille on their label.

Nose

A remarkably balanced nose. It combines the light fresh notes of melon, cut grass, and peaches with hearty malt and digestive biscuits.

The more you dig in the more a funky floral tang appears, which closely resembles earl grey tea bags.

Taste

Due to my expectations of it being an Island Scotch, my brain instantly was expecting the likes of Talisker and Jura. I was very wrong.

This nectar is very cereal forward with a sweet creamy taste at the front. This is bottled bananas ontop of shreddies.

There is a slightly sharp citrus edge throughout the palette which transforms into this mild spice note at the back of your throat. This continues with a finish that lasts much longer than you would expect from such a welcoming taste.

For me, it really reminds me of Cotswold Single Malt which I would well recommend.

Value for Money

The price range is wide-spanning for this bottle and I do wonder if the surge of online love may have been a factor in this. I first saw it at £33 which certainly would have given it a higher VFM score however it seems to be sitting between £38 – £45 now. At this cost it is starting to hit the higher end for a 10 year old bottle. But then again, this is not a standard 10 year old.

I want to thank the superstar Alan for sending me a fantastic Arran selection of samples to work through.