Review #88: Arran 17yrs, bottled 2014, 46%, OB, ex-sherry hogsheads, 9000 bottles

where's my Wealth Solutions swag?

I don't seem to be on their distribution list. Anyway, this just hit the U.S. (And it's not even on the web site yet.) It's a warm-up for the 18yr coming out next year, which I think might be a regular release, unlike this one. It should be interesting in its own right, though.

nose: a wave of baked apples and wood spice. then some butter pastry, dried grass and smoke, wildflower honey and toffee. very faint fruits: apricots and a lonely strawberry.

palate is sweet and oily, with a rounder fruitiness than the nose would suggest. a little fudge. but then oak eventually takes over -- somewhere between sawn plank and nutmeg.

finish is nicely long, but mostly on the oak.


Not a whole lot to say about this one -- somehow it seems a little too young and yet a little too woody. The fruit is nice, but a little generic, and the oak is a little astringent. This is good stuff, but not great. I hope the 18 is better.

score: 85