Arran Sauternes Cask Finish REVIEW: Bright, Clean, and BORING?
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- Опубликовано: 20 июн 2021
- I've got another single malt from the Arran distillery today. This one is a sauternes finished expression. I'll taste it and give you my thoughts. Cheers!
IG: @gwhiskytw
Business/Contact info: gwhiskytw@gmail.com
Scores:
0-75 - Crap
75-79 - Cocktail fodder
80-82 - Not bad
83-85 - Getting good here
86-89 - Delicious
90-94 - Awesome
95-100 - Cowabunga Dudes
Music: freemusicarchive.org/music/Yu...
Love your reviews! Compact, well structured and straight to the point.
I totally agree with you about the age statements. Arran deffinitely should put age statements on their wine cask finished expressions. IMHO, given the quality of presentation: 50%, non chill-filtered and natural color, those whiskies are great value even as a NAS and an age statement will not diminish them.
I haven't tasted any of those wine cask finished whiskies of Arran. Have a bottle of their Côte-Rôtie Cask Finish, pre-rebranding, and a bottle of the new Amarone Cask Finish in the stash waiting for their turn though :) Arran is the best price/quality single malt whisky on our market. I can get their 10 yo for as much as 27-28 euro and the wine cask finished ones for 31-32 euro. The Barrel Reserve and Robert Burns releases are even cheaper. There is no better presented whisky for the money around here.
I like the wine finishes, but Arran does its best work with age statements. I've had the Cote-Rotie and liked it, although it was on the sweeter side.
I haven't had that Amarone yet, so I'll admit I'm making generalizations here, but I think if you liked the previous versions of wine finished Arrans I'm sure you'll enjoy these new ones. Still solid.
Thanks for watching and I appreciate the kind words!
Arran is pure nosence hype of Ralfy, very young alcohol driven spirit, waste of health, time and money
I’d be keen to try a Rum finished Arran with their tropical fruit distillate.
Rum casks can be hit or miss, but if anyone could pull it off it would be Arran. Cool thought!
If you contact Arran they will provide the sell sheets for these whiskies. The NAS line is about 8 years old. No idea why they would leave that off the label. But I have tried the Quarter Cask and it is fantastic. I wonder how this compares to Clynelish 14 which is a current favorite of mine. Great review. Cheers.
I like the Bothy QC, although it's not what it used to be before the rebranding. Still excellent, though. I seem to remember the port being advertised as 7 or 8 years old. The 10+ is where the brand does its best work though imo. Arran + age statement = liquid gold. 🙂
I prefer Arran in its simplest form. Good quality Barley, measured distillate, excellent use of casks and finally an untarnished craft presentation. The 10, 14 and 18 are fantastic whiskies. I cannot for the life of it understand why they discontinued the 14 years, that was such a lovely whisky.
Somehow, I am unimpressed with the Arran wine finishes. I understand the temptation of getting into the hype and the market, but I think they should try and stick to their strengths. With such a delicious flavor profile in their purest expressions, they do not need to camouflage or augment their product with wine casks. That is of course my opinion.
From a subjective standpoint, I like the Bordeaux finish. I have had the older bottling of the Sauternes finish. I think your review was spot on. Decent whisky with a steady, restrained sweetness that is well balances with wood oils and faint tannins. Also, yes. I wish more distillers would not shy away from showcasing younger age statements. The myth that older and "Darker" whiskies are the best are long gone (or am I being too optimistic here? Rare optimism on a Monday for me) Cheers!
Funny you should mention that. A friend and I popped a bottle of the old 14 last night. I've always enjoyed that one, but I think it had been about four years since I last had it. Absolutely delicious, and one of the best Arrans for the money. In fact I enjoyed it so much I did some digging and found a local shop that still has a few left in stock. I think I'll have to zip over and grab one or two for the "vault."
Agree about the finishes. The 18 is deeply sherried but it's not a finish (a personal favourite btw). But the Arrans I tend to enjoy the most don't need any cosmetic touch-ups. Arran is such a top-tier distillate, and their best expressions are the ones that let that natural quality shine through.
@@Gwhisky I am quite envious of the Taiwan whisky market! I wish my local shop had some good whiskies as well. The only Arran it carries is the Robert Burns bottling leaving me spending a fortune on online purveyors to obtain the good stuff. Yes, the 14 is an absolutely delicious whisky. I still have a bottle in my stash, carefully preserved for the apocalypse and ensuing binge drinking.
The 18, stunning! Also one of my favorite 18 year old bottles around. Never tried their 21 year old. I have been hearing some good things about it. Might have to make the splash relatively soon.
@@yoursinsincerely39 As a lover of good whisky, I'm very lucky to be here in Taiwan. Not only is whisky cheap here, there's also a huge selection of bottles available in my city. I often take that for granted-until I hear from people like you who have to go to great efforts to get the good stuff (it seems like Americans and Canadians have it worse than elsewhere).
In a way I think they should get bonus points just by the "Non Chill Filtered / Natural Color" and high proof. In a lineup of 83-85point whiskies I'm picking the Arran. :)
have you tried the 21 arran, ive heard some good stuff about it and its priced really well in my area
I haven't. I've only gone as high as the 18. I haven't seen the 21 in any of my local shops. I hear great things about it too!
Unfortunately Arran is rare in my area. Have never tasted ANY Arrans. Bummer. I guess Florida is off their map. Sounds good though.
Yeah Arran is a weird one. Aside from their older expressions, the core range is super available in some markets and impossible to find in others. No idea why...
mmmm....eeeee....my englisj is poor, espero um momento...
First of all, I believe that THE AARON must have made some reform efforts in marketing and design. This is not easy for a winery.
The series of new bottles allows customers to feel the flavor and taste in a simple way when they see the packaging.
Remember that when you visit a winery in Burgundy, France, they will let you touch a velvet, and then invite you to taste a wine. People who have drunk will nod and praise this way to let customers know the wine.
So I like this series. The arran amarone cask finish whiskey is difficult to buy in Taiwan. I only have this bottle and 1/4 of the cast strength, and Sherry cast strength!.
Thank you for sharing the experience, this whisky rarely has similar comments.
沒問題我看得懂你寫的!
Yeah the marketing and rebranding from Arran is very interesting. They paid a lot of attention to the colours, textures, and presentation of their bottles.
The Amarone cask finish doesn't seem to have made it to Taiwan yet. I haven't seen it anywhere in Taipei, but I'm sure it will show up here eventually.
I found it! You can use the following URL to place an order or, Line them. , Cheers
9ligo.com/product/2569
@@MrSandro1914 Great! Thanks!
Knocks it down a point for having a yellow label, describes the flavor as yellow. I demand a recount!!!!
😂😂😂
The issue is 'finish' with this one and I don't think the marriage works. A few years ago I had a superb Glendronach 14 fully matured Sauternes (Chateau de Yquem). 14 years in a superb cask. WTF is a finish in a NAS these days? It doesn't come of with this. It's also very light for 50%. I'm a big fan of Arran but this is a nothing expression. Worth a punt but it's a no for me. A hint of Sauternes but it feels like it's layered on top. The finish is a bit sour as well. Talking of finish, where are we with finishes? It's the graveyard of disappointing stock. Look back to that fully matured Glendronach and we can see how standards have gone seriously downhill. Great review as always. WT
I have never fallen in love with any Sauternes finish to be honest. That said, I've never hated them either. I think there's good potential there, but nothing has impressed me so far.
As for finishes, I don't hate them as much as you, but I admit they can "cheapen" a whisky sometimes. I do think they work sometimes, but they can (and often are) used in a "lipstick on a pig" kind of way. Cheers WT!
So am I the only person who finds this one a bit overpowering? I normally to prefer to drink whisky neat but I had to add water to this, aside from it bringing out the sauternes sweetness it was practically burning my mouth without it! It's weird to me cos I've not had that issue with other NAS whisky at 50% like Port Charlotte and I do prefer a bit more strength and character as well. This bottle took a few months to finish and got ignored quite a bit!
Edit: Just remembered that port charlotte is actually a 10yr old, so I guess those extra couple of years really make a difference? I'm only a year into my love affair with whisky so still learning!
I finished my bottle a while back. I didn't find it too overpowering, but it definitely did have a bit of bite!
Well, you had me at ''a special kind of fungus''.
And they say romance is dead.