Arran Malt The Millennium Casks Review

Isle of Arran Malt - The Millennium Casks - 53.5% abv. - 13 Years Old

I haven't reviewed an Arran Malt yet but have tasted only one previous to this one - The Port Cask Finish. I've constantly heard good things about the quality of the whisky being produced by the Isle of Arran distillery and have been dying to get something from there for some time. I have really been looking hard for something done in American Oak, though, because I feel like American Oak really helps to see the intrinsic character and quality of a distillery. This limited bottling consists of a marriage of whisky from 35 American Oak casks and 10 Sherry casks. Close enough especially with the cask strength, natural colour, and non-chillfiltered-ness of this one.

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Colour: Gold.

Nose: creamy with whack of fruit coming through. Soft for cask strength. Sweet honey with some orange in there for sure. Really nice! Its like a fruit plate that you get at brunch with a hint of vanilla... some apple, some citrus, some melon.

Palate: for a cask strength whisky, this is soft and creamy! Really thick texture too. Wow! That is delicious. This is sweet and creamy with some vanilla and, again, a whack of fruit coming though.  Some citrus in there along with other fruits... melon, I think. Honey. Zesty. Yummy. I love how thick the texture is and this moves in layers. There is some nice spices that come through as well but it never gets hot or dries.

Water seems to open up the flavours and fruitiness without thinning that super thick texture. You won't need it for the alcohol... just if you want to open it up a little.

Finish: long persistence with satisfying heat at the back of the neck/throat. Finishes really nice.

This is top shelf whisky. Again, a great example of how you don't need to be a hundred years old or thousands of dollars to be really good. This malt is one of high intrinsic quality. When would I drink this? Honestly, it could work really well as an afternoon dram where you want something a little richer or as an evening dram where you need something that can cut through whatever you had for dinner. Its clean and fresh but balances that with a creamy richness. I'll be paying much closer attention to Arran going forward.