Arran 10, 18, 21, Sherry Cask & The Bothy Reviews

Hi everyone,

Got a few Arran’s for you today! Gotta say, I love the new packaging and range. The new bottles have a great look and feel, though of course its the juice that we’re really interested in. Plenty of the new stuff seems darker, with more sherry casks in the mix of the usual age statement range.

Having started in 1995, it is now Arran’s 25th Anniversary, which should bring some exciting things as well.

If memory serves, my first experience of Arran was the 12yo cask strength, which I found very solid but isn’t around anymore. Since then I’ve always found Arran to be very dependable, quality malt.

Arran 10 (2019) 46%

Colour: Dark Gold

Body: Medium

Nose: A sweet shop that only sells gummy sweets, some kiwi, keylime pie, whipped cream, very fresh and bright.

Taste: Malty and soft then a big hit of fresh fruit, melon and apple, gummy sweets but goes a bit rubbery.

Finish: Short/Medium length. More rubbery here with some malt and apple.

Fresh and malty, kept back a little by the rubbery notes that I seem to be very sensitive to.

66/100

 

Arran 18 (2019) 46%

Colour: Amber

Body: Medium/Full

Nose: Bright cherry, malt and chocolate. A heavier, almost meaty Arran. Toffee apple, a little gravy maybe, some vanilla, a little creamy.

Taste: Malty arrival, raspberry and cherry, again quite heavy and thick, almost Mortlachian, then some unfortunate rubber. Seems that the sherry wasn't quite perfect.

Finish: Short length. A little of that rubber and cherry but another short finish...

This was so almost so damn good. A Mortlach of an Arran ruined by the rubber and short finish. Fun whisky though.

74/100

 

Arran 21 (2019) 46%

Colour: Light Amber

Body: Medium

Nose: Malty and robust with plenty of fruit, red apple, spearmint, herbal pockets, wild strawberry, dark chocolate truffles, all nicely in balance and expressive.

Taste: Soft arrival, really good, chocolate and malt, a little orange, wild strawberry, dry oak, some leather, goes a bit flat into the finish.

Finish: Medium/Long length. A bit flatter here with oak and a little chocolate.

Would be in the 80's if the finish hadn't let it down. Nose is the star here.

76/100

 

Arran Sherry Cask 'The Bodega' 55.8%

Colour: Amber

Body: Medium/Full

Nose: Ethereal rather than a full on Sherry bomb, actually a bit medicinal, cherry cough sweets, cherry lip gloss, something slightly mouldy? Interesting nose.

Taste: Sharp and sweet, medicinal again, cough syrup, raisin and prune, plum, quite fruity and something more oily as it develops. A bit of rubber near the finish.

Finish: Short/Medium length. Fades quicker than expected. Fruity with some rubber.

Not completely pleasant but very interesting whisky.

71/100

 

Arran The Bothy Batch 3 53.2%

Colour: Gold

Body: Medium

Nose: Slightly tropical, austere, lemon, butterscotch biscuits, some nettle and mint, creamy vanilla.

Taste: Soft and creamy, biscuit, malt, lemon, dark chocolate, some leather, really nicely balanced, oily into the finish.

Finish: Medium length. Very oily here with more creamy biscuits.

Quarter casks used. Similar to the Wolfburn Langskip.

75/100

Thanks for reading!

Updated Distillery Rankings

Scotch Reviews #842-#846

Whisky Network Reviews #1012-#1016

Network Average: 75.2

Best Score: 94

Worst Score: 12

0-49 Terrible

50-59 Bad

60-64 Just About OK

65-69 Ok to Good

70-74 Good

75-79 Very Good

80-84 Excellent

85-89 Superb

90+ Magnificent

Full Disclosure Disclaimer: I currently work as the Global Brand Ambassador for Penderyn Distillery. The views expressed here are purely my own and do not reflect the views of Penderyn Distillery or The Welsh Whisky Company. I try to maintain as much objectivity as I can but feel free to take my reviews with as big a pinch of salt as you like. Furthermore, my rating scale is NOT based on a Parker type wine scoring scale or a school/college/university % or A-F grade score. You can find more on my scoring here. I apologise for any seemly low or 'bad' scores given with my system and I am sorry I can't say only nice things. Please keep in mind that I am ethically compromised and I am unable to produce 100% unbiased reviews.

Why is this here?

Redbreast 15 & 21 Reviews

Hi everyone,

Redbreast is known to be THE single pot still whiskey to try. Particularly the 21 has a reputation as one of the best Irish Whiskies that money can buy.

Now, I’m not usually a massive fan of Irish whiskey but had the chance to try two of the Redbreast range recently, including the 21.

If you didn’t already know, it is distilled at the New Midleton distillery with a mix of malted and unmalted barley. Although it is made on the same site as Jameson, this only uses pot stills, giving it a fuller body and character.

Redbreast 15 46%

Colour: Gold

Body: Medium

Nose: Loads of tropical fruit, fruit gums, a little banana, milk bottle sweets, apple sours, a real pix-n-mix! Creamy.

Taste: Very soft, a little watery to start (46%?!), tropical fruit, green banana, underipe mango, orange juice, creamy vanilla. Flat in places though.

Finish: Medium/Long length. Soft spices, some oak, a bit flat here and lacking life.

I was very surprised by the mouthfeel to this. Very average in my book, especially considering the price is pretty high.

69/100

 

Redbreast 21 46%

Colour: Dark Gold

Body: Medium/Full

Nose: Stunning! A massive fruit bomb! Expressive mango and mango juice, guava, some pineapple, perfume, clean laundry and biscuit, candied orange peel, ripe banana and milk chocolate. Complex and lively.

Taste: Juicy arrival, mango, pineapple, great oak, still so fresh, creamy, biscuit, lovely viscous mouthfeel, orange, light touch of white pepper and ginger.

Finish: Medium length. More orange, then drier, orange chewing gum, not as complex here.

Just loses a few points on the finish but fantastic Irish whiskey.

80/100

Thanks for reading!

Irish Reviews #28-#29

Whisky Network Reviews #965-#966

Network Average: 75.1

Best Score: 94

Worst Score: 12

0-49 Terrible

50-59 Bad

60-64 Just About OK

65-69 Ok to Good

70-74 Good

75-79 Very Good

80-84 Excellent

85-89 Superb

90+ Magnificent

Full Disclosure Disclaimer: I currently work as the Global Brand Ambassador for Penderyn Distillery. The views expressed here are purely my own and do not reflect the views of Penderyn Distillery or The Welsh Whisky Company. I try to maintain as much objectivity as I can but feel free to take my reviews with as big a pinch of salt as you like. Furthermore, my rating scale is NOT based on a Parker type wine scoring scale or a school/college/university % or A-F grade score. You can find more on my scoring here. I apologise for any seemly low or 'bad' scores given with my system and I am sorry I can't say only nice things. Please keep in mind that I am ethically compromised and I am unable to produce 100% unbiased reviews.

Why is this here?

Ledaig 2001 & 1997 Douglas Laing Reviews

Hi everyone,

As you can imagine, I have quite a few Ledaig reviews in the pipeline, mostly because I don’t want to bombard you with them all at once but I’ve got two today that it makes sense to post together as they are both from the same bottler, recent and still available.

If you didn’t know, Douglas Laing’s Old Particular range have two different strengths; the younger, less expensive ones are bottled at 48.4% and the older and more expensive at 51.5% or cask if they’re under that, therefore the different strengths on these.

Ledaig 2001 Douglas Laing 48.4%

Colour: Gold

Body: Medium

Nose: Ah, a good one. A funky and slightly rancid but delicious sweetness, rotting orange, cigarette smoke, creamy, vanilla and peaches.

Taste: Lacking a bit of power, orange then building smoke, ashes. Quite oaky and spicy here as it develops but doesn’t quite balance with the rest.

Finish: Medium length. More chocolate orange, dry oak. A distinct lack of smoke here.

15yo. Lovely nose but a disappointing palate. Can't help but think this would have been better kept at cask strength, as we encountered with the other Old Particular Ledaig I’d had.

73/100

 

Ledaig 1997 Douglas Laing 50.6%

Colour: Light Gold

Body: Medium/Full

Nose: Pork crackling, gristy smoke, lemon citrus and sea salt, white sausage and some nice smoked cheese, very savoury nose. Ash and clean peat smoke, sugared almonds.

Taste: Lovely clean arrival, amazingly oily mouthfeel, some drying oak, easy ginger spice, peat, sea salt and lemon, slightly fizzy- lemon sherbet.

Finish: Long length. More peaty with some minerals, lemon and salt. Some black pepper. Talikserishness.

Released 2018 at 21yo. Lovely, a good one from the older ones. Really love the nose because it’s delicious and savoury. Still, not quite up there with the best of them. Still, these older Ledaig’s do seem to struggle to retain the complexity and purity of their youth.

79/100

Thanks for reading!

Updated Distillery Rankings

Scotch Reviews #711-#712

Whisky Network Reviews #848-#849

Network Average: 75.1

Best Score: 94

Worst Score: 12

0-49 Terrible

50-59 Bad

60-64 Just About OK

65-69 Ok to Good

70-74 Good

75-79 Very Good

80-84 Excellent

85-89 Superb

90+ Magnificent

Full Disclosure Disclaimer: I currently work as a Brand Ambassador for Penderyn Distillery. The views expressed here are purely my own and do not reflect the views of Penderyn Distillery or The Welsh Whisky Company. I try to maintain as much objectivity as I can but feel free to take my reviews with as big a pinch of salt as you like. Furthermore, my rating scale is NOT based on a Parker type wine scoring scale or a school/college/university % or A-F grade score. You can find more on my scoring here. I apologise for any seemly low or 'bad' scores given with my system and I am sorry I can't say only nice things. Please keep in mind that I am ethically compromised and I am unable to produce 100% unbiased reviews.

Why is this here?

TBWC Scotch-Japanese Blend 21yo Review

Hi everyone,

April 2018 saw That Boutique-y Whisky Co (Atom Brands, AKA Master of Malt) being bought by the much larger company InBev, who own Budweiser. They stopped shipping to the US but few other changes occurred.

This one is an innovative, perhaps Adelphi inspired, take on whisky, blending Japanese and Scotch.

Are these two things related?

Probably not, but in my mind it looks like someone pushing crap whisky onto the public by screaming ‘JAPANESE!!’ Which, isn’t a bad way to sell whisky but falls short of TWBC’s quality standards in this case. Just my two cents…

 

Scotch-Japanese Blend 21 TBWC 43%

Colour: Dark Gold

Body: Light

Nose: Quite grain driven, almost Bourbon-like corn, creamy, some sharp oak, very dry leaves.

Taste: Soft and creamy, lacking a lot of power, lots of grain, some strawberry, a little vanilla.

Finish: Short length. Lacking, some late strawberry.

Disappointing. Tastes like there’s a lot of Grain whisky in this one, with very little malt. There’s very little complexity for 21 years, no power to speak of whatsoever and the balance is majorly off. I would like to apologise for being harsh but TBWC is usually so good that this is quite a shock.

64/100

Thanks for reading!

Whisky Network Review #805

Network Average: 75.1

Best Score: 94

Worst Score: 12

0-49 Terrible

50-59 Bad

60-64 Just About OK

65-69 Ok to Good

70-74 Good

75-79 Very Good

80-84 Excellent

85-89 Superb

90+ Magnificent

Full Disclosure Disclaimer: I currently work as a Brand Ambassador for Penderyn Distillery. The views expressed here are purely my own and do not reflect the views of Penderyn Distillery or The Welsh Whisky Company. I try to maintain as much objectivity as I can but feel free to take my reviews with as big a pinch of salt as you like. Furthermore, my rating scale is NOT based on a Parker type wine scoring scale or a school/college/university % or A-F grade score. You can find more on my scoring here. I apologise for any seemly low or 'bad' scores given with my system and I am sorry I can't say only nice things. Please keep in mind that I am ethically compromised and I am unable to produce 100% unbiased reviews.

Why is this here?

Tomatin 21 TBWC Review

Hi everyone,

Thanks to Dave from TBWC for this dram, always the gent.

So back in April still (Yes, I’m behind) I was at Bristol Whisky Lounge, and just about managed to try a few whiskies despite the crowded space. I didn’t actually want to try this one, I wanted to try the 25yo mystery Islay, not this pale Tomatin but as always Dave made a good suggestion.

Tomatin 21 TBWC 47.4%

Colour: Straw

Body: Medium

Nose: Lovely musky slightly tropical fresh fruit, mint sprig, tomato stem amazingly (or maybe that’s the label talking!), plenty of dry oak, lemon peel. Leather and chocolate powder over time.

Taste: Dry, soft oak first then more musky and perfumed, amazing old leather and chocolate, quite dark, older than its years. Even better, there’s a great balance of flavours here too.

Finish: Long. Mouthwatering, leather and dark chocolate, some ginger snap.

Much darker and older tasting than the colour would let on. This is an absolutely wonderful example of Tomatin, if a tad expensive for most of us…

84/100

Distillery: Tomatin

Average Score: 77.5

Distillery Ranking 22nd/ 65 places

Up/Down: 25>22 (Up 3)

Thanks for reading!

Scotch Review #649

Whisky Network Review #774

Network Average: 75.0

Best Score: 94

Worst Score: 12

0-49 Terrible

50-59 Bad

60-64 Just About OK

65-69 Ok to Good

70-74 Good

75-79 Very Good

80-84 Excellent

85-89 Superb

90+ Magnificent

Full Disclosure Disclaimer: I currently work as a Brand Ambassador for Penderyn Distillery. The views expressed here are purely my own and do not reflect the views of Penderyn Distillery or The Welsh Whisky Company. I try to maintain as much objectivity as I can but feel free to take my reviews with as big a pinch of salt as you like. Furthermore, my rating scale is NOT based on a Parker type wine scoring scale or a school/college/university % or A-F grade score. You can find more on my scoring here. I apologise for any seemly low or 'bad' scores given with my system and I am sorry I can't say only nice things. Please keep in mind that I am ethically compromised and I am unable to produce 100% unbiased reviews.

Why is this here?

Arran 1996 Alembic Rum Finish Review

Hi everyone,

Arran seems to be putting out some good stuff at the moment, and is a bit under my radar actually. I should give them more credit, as some of the stuff is getting really good. Like this one.

In retrospect I should have taken a bit more time to appreciate this one. I should have told the guy who gave it to me “Slow down a minute, this is good shit” but I didn’t. That’s my bad, but even from a small sample, I manage to make a few notes.

Arran 1996 Alembic Rum Finish 50.6%

Colour: Gold

Body: Full

Nose: Lovely tropical nose with a very delicious white sugar note. Great nose.

Taste: Sugary hit first then fresh fruit, pineapple, green apple, long development.

Finish: Long length. Dry oak and another white sugar cane hit.

A 4 year finishing in a Barbados Rhum barrel, bottled @ 21yo. Seriously delicious stuff. My second favourite Arran I’ve had so far. It seems to work better with the sweeter flavours, as a long PX finish was my other favourite.

82/100

Distillery: Arran

Average Score: 76.4

Distillery Ranking: 25th/ 62 places

Up/Down: 28>25 (Up 3)

Thanks for reading!

Scotch Review #629

Whisky Network Review #749

Network Average: 74.9

Best Score: 94

Worst Score: 12

0-49 Terrible

50-59 Bad

60-64 Just About OK

65-69 Ok to Good

70-74 Good

75-79 Very Good

80-84 Excellent

85-89 Superb

90+ Magnificent

Full Disclosure Disclaimer: I currently work as a Brand Ambassador for Penderyn Distillery. The views expressed here are purely my own and do not reflect the views of Penderyn Distillery or The Welsh Whisky Company. I try to maintain as much objectivity as I can but feel free to take my reviews with as big a pinch of salt as you like. Furthermore, my rating scale is NOT based on a Parker type wine scoring scale or a school/college/university % or A-F grade score. You can find more on my scoring here. I apologise for any seemly low or 'bad' scores given with my system and I am sorry I can't say only nice things. Please keep in mind that I am ethically compromised and I am unable to produce 100% unbiased reviews.

Why is this here?

Aberfeldy 21 Review

Hi everyone,

Just a quick review of another whisky from Ian Buxton’s 101’s today. I’ve been trying to get my hands on this for a while but my motivation to actually buy a bottle was very low with this being such a low abv.

So I waited. Like a praying mantis or a tunnel spider. And when I saw it, I pounced like a Jaguar or a man wanting to try a new whisky.

 

Aberfeldy 21 40%

Colour: Gold

Body: Medium

Nose: Heather and lots of honey, biscuit, vanilla, oak and red apple. Nice nose but not nearly as complex as I would have hoped from 21 years.

Taste: Soft, honey, heather, spice, dry, oak, ginger, some soft black pepper, lacks power, golden raisin, red apple. Shame the abv is low, as I suspected, it died a little inside when being watered down.

Finish: Medium/Long length. Ginger spice, oak, heather, spicy red apple.

Well, a tiny bit better than what Glenfiddich are doing with their 21’s (ice wine casks included), but I know, KNOW, this could be so much better with a bit more abv behind it.

76/100

Thanks for reading!

Scotch Review #559

Whisky Network Review #662

Network Average: 74.7

Best Score: 93

Worst Score: 22

0-49 Terrible

50-59 Bad

60-64 Just About OK

65-69 Ok to Good

70-74 Good

75-79 Very Good

80-84 Excellent

85-89 Superb

90+ Magnificent

Full Disclosure Disclaimer: I currently work as a Brand Ambassador for Penderyn Distillery. The views expressed here are purely my own and do not reflect the views of Penderyn Distillery or The Welsh Whisky Company. I try to maintain as much objectivity as I can but feel free to take my reviews with as big a pinch of salt as you like. Furthermore, my rating scale is NOT based on a Parker type wine scoring scale or a school/college/university % or A-F grade score. You can find more on my scoring here. I apologise for any seemly low or 'bad' scores given with my system and am sorry I can't say only nice things. Please keep in mind that I am ethically compromised and am unable to produce 100% unbiased reviews.

Why is this here?