Arran White Stag 6th Release
From the distillery website
We are delighted to present the White Stag Sixth Release, this time chosen by our Distillery Manager David Livingstone.Tasked with selecting the casks for this year's bottling, David identified an outstanding Sherry Hogshead and a Sherry Puncheon from 1997 which were married together to create this very special bottling for our community.
The resulting whisky is 23 years old. ABV: 53.8%
Nose: Fruit and floral notes are dominant with a little touch of sweet spice. A note of baked apple pie is balanced by a hint of lemon meringue and a delicious promise of something powerful and expressive.
Palate: Zesty and bright with an enveloping sense of fresh island character. Delicate oak gives this whisky a complexity which gives way to wonderful rich and rewarding fruit with a drop of water. Citrus fruits develop more towards pear and tropical melon with a sweetness that grows with each sip.
Finish: A fruit cocktail with incredible complexity. This is an intense yet light Arran Single Malt which remains long on the palate long after the last sip.
Tasting Notes:
Appearance: Deep honey gold, forms a thin line which beads before falling as slow, thin legs.
Nose: Light and fruity with delicate floral notes. Baked apple, citrus fruit, butter pastry, vanilla, almonds and a hint of ginger spice.
Palate: Zesty lemon at first, followed by crisp orchard fruit and ripe melon. Vanilla, caramel sweetness and a light oaky nuttiness and astringency, together with a little maritime salt and a gradual build of prickly spice. Addition of a few drops of water bring additional creaminess, together with dried fruit notes of raisins and sultanas.
Finish: Long, lingering, fruity and quite dry, the citrus notes linger before gradually being replaced by more notes of dried fruit, apricot and sultanas.
Summary: For a 23 year old whisky from a combination of Sherry casks, this is surprisingly light and yet manages to retain a real complexity. Fruit is very much to the fore as you would probably expect from an Arran whisky, with the dried fruit notes from the Sherry casks adding further layers of flavour and balance rather than dominating.
This is a whisky which, for me anyway, really benefits from a few drops of water. The rewards are a more creamy mouthfeel followed by deeper, more complex fruitiness and a longer, less astringent, less spicy finish.
Arran whisky has a strong, loyal fan base typified by the White Stag community, which means these limited edition bottlings tend to disappear from the shelves very quickly. From this expression alone, it’s easy to understand why.
If you would like more information on this whisky, the White Stags or any of the other Arran Malts, follow the link to the company website.
