Jim, my impression of this whisky was similar (but no dog food notes) and I recommended the Glenfarfclas 105 instead . Consequently I am getting more thumbs down responses than usual so I think there are lot of fan boys of this whisky out there. I put links to your review in the comment section of my video.
Cheers Erik. Can't please everyone as you know buddy. Arran is just one of those whiskys that people love. Heaven forbid we'd say anything bad about it.
I do enjoy Sunday mornings when I can relax and enjoy a fresh review from my pal, Jim. Great choice, Drew! I have heard so much about the Arran 10 but little about this one so I'm very glad you reviewed this. Based on the past 100+ reviews, I know that I have very similar preferences in whisky. So, this sounds like the Arran I should try, but this is probably not one I'll be enthusiastic about. I'll try it before I buy it, but I'm more likely to keep Aberlour in my cabinet since I do enjoy that very much. I hope the family is all back to good health soon.
Thank you Bud 🙏. I think, for me certainly, that the Aberlour will always be the safer bet. That being said...we would never discover those hidden gems by playing safe all the time either 😉 Cheers mate.
I have just ordered a bottle of this, and then I latched on to your review. Great, you could have told me you weren't so keen before I ordered🤣Seriously, I enjoyed your review and still glad I've bought a bottle. Like you said, no point in playing safe all the time. Thanks for sharing Jim 🥃🥃
You made a dogs dinner out of that Jim! A great review as always. This was one of the first bottles I got when my journey started a couple of years back. I totally agree that water makes all the difference.
Excellent review as usual, Jim. Thanks to Drew for picking this dram that in my opinion is way better than the 10yo. I've had a bottle (only €40 here in NL) and tried a dram with water twice ... and left it after that. Didn't do much for me except from getting sharper. Agree with you that it -despite being fairly cheap and CS and ...- still is not my whisky. I prefer the regular Bunna 12 as an even more affordable sherry finished / matured whisky. Slàinte mhath
Cheers Frank. Yeah, credit to Lochranza, they can make a well presented whisky and sell it for a competitive, affordable price but, it won't stop me struggling with some of their expressions. In a whisky world FULL of hefty, ex-sherry cask matured, cask strength offerings...you better be producing a real barn-stormer to compete. Honestly...I'm tiring of them all a bit. When the battle cry is sounding like "MORE SHERRY INFLUENCE!! HIGHER ABV!! Etc." I'm thinking "can we not temper this a bit and add complexity?" I may change my mind again though 😄 Slàinte my friend.
Dogfood is a new note for me. LOL Fun review. This definitely seems like a young sherry bomb to me but complex beyond its age. My palate shifts a lot and regularly away from sherried whiskies. I can go months without pouring a sherried whisky. However when I drift back to them, I always enjoy this whisky.
Cheers Mike. I can fully understand why this is liked. Natural presentation, high ABV, great price, etc. On paper it's an absolute gem. Unfortunately for me....it just doesn't float my boat 😔 Thanks buddy.
That was a complex review, Jim. I found myself turning my nose up at the start and then relaxing a bit more as you added the water and it opened up. I had my eye on this, but am not so sure now. What other Arran's are there that you do like?
Cheers Rich. I've sampled the 18 and enjoyed it and I have the older bottling of the Port Cask which I'm particularly fond of. There will be reviews. I'm just a bit put off buying lots more Arran in the future 🤷♂️ Hey just while I'm on with you. I sent you a couple of emails over the last few weeks. Just curious if you saw them mate?
This is one Arran that I haven't cracked yet but when I do it will be with Alpo already in mind. I find that sherry cask bottles can be pretty divisive amongst whisky geeks. Hits for some are misses for others. Personally I like whiskies that mix bourbon and sherry in the maturation. Best example for me of that lately was Kilchoman Sanaig. For me, the best whisky I have tasted so far in 2022. Cheers friend.
Cheers Bill. Weirdly, the Sanaig is another whisky that didn't do it for me. As a huge fan of the Machir Bay and peated malts with ex-bourbon and ex-sherry maturation...I had huge expectations for the Sanaig. I've very little left in my bottle because I kept (over time) returning, hoping something had changed but, alas it hadn't 😔. But yet again, the amount of people who recommended Kilchoman Sanaig to me, tells me that it's a good 'un. I know it's a good 'un. But just not to my taste 😔 I guess we can't love 'em all eh'? 😉
Was through two bottles of this and the Quarter cask before I finally got to the 10. For me both bottles are bookends to keep on the shelf. Finally got the 10 after it won big at the OSWA's. Thing is they are all great to me along with every other Arran I have gotten. Dog food and Shoe Polish Yum! The nose on this I found kind of weak and muted especially when having side by side with Abuna'd batch 61 that had a far superior nose but on the palate it's very good. This is American oak while the Abuna'd is I think European oak (at least some of the casks) so kind of an apples and oranges thing. Hope that NCF 48% Aberlour 12 makes it to my area as it sound right up my ally. Cheers Jim
Cheers Tim. I don't know what the full story with the 12 NCF is. I had to go to a mainland European outlet to get this one. If Aberlour were mine...I'd stop putting out the (in my opinion) sub-par, weak and woeful standard 12 and replace it with this. As for Arran...I always approach them (and reviewing them) with a little trepidation. I can understand their popularity and I do like others I've had but...it's always a bit of a gamble for my palate.
I reviewed this bottle at the end of October. Arran across the board can be tough to get in my province, so when I saw it on the shelf, I grabbed it. I used to be sherry-averse, but Ive been exploring whisky much more over during the Plague, so Ive been acquiring the sherry tase. I loved this bottle, and I'll buy it again. I also love the new look for Arran. It's got a great modern look, but it's still classy as heck.
Do like your reviews Jim, 👍😀haven’t had the Arran sherry cask but the NCF Aberlour 12 have had ( not in the new bottle design though)and its a way far better experience than the normal 12. Is it on your list for a review at some point? .Slàinte Jim
In continuation of our chat on Patreon, I honestly think you knock the review out of the park, Jim. I must admit that I'm barely below the shoulder in my bottle - but that should be a "good thing" for me, as I don't really remember any bottles getting worse from a neck pour and on. My point being though that I'm not that familiar with this whisky just yet. I also have to admit - that I'm quite an Arran fanboy, so I may even be biased on my first impression of this presentation. Now I'll look even more forward to my next pour from the bottle and see if I'm still as impressed, as I were by the first two pours, or whether I'll have some of the same reservations that you have. Make no mistake... it's not that it's "best sherried whisky ever" (I hope that I didn't give that impression), but price-value wise I definitely think it's a magnificent option to go for. For the time being at least - I too reserve the rights to change my mind by the hour, you know 😁 Another thing came to my mind regarding the "not in the mood" or "depending on the palate on the day" thing that you also mention. I had a Glen Scotia 15 yo a couple of weeks ago for the first time in quite a while. And I thought to myself... "what the... is this the whisky that I normally like so much?". I was genuinely quite disappointed in it on that day. But then this past Thursday - I poured another dram of it, and then it was all back to normal, the really really good single malt that I enjoy so much and will (hopefully) always have a place in my cabinet. So if the Arran Sherry Cask is not "a whisky for you" even when your palate is "right" for it, then it's probably almost in the "bad" category, when you hit it on an "off palate" day...? Great review as always, love hearing your perspective. Cheers! 🥃
🙏 thank you Benny. That's part of whisky's talent isn't it!? It can prove itself to be great in almost every way but, still not appeal to everyone's tastes. But, as someone said to me recently...if we all loved it, then there wouldn't be enough to go around so... Funny, regarding the GS 15...I have a bottle but only opened it recently so haven't spent enough time with it to have a view on it. But what I did think was (as a Glen Scotia fan) "everyone raves about this expression but...it's just alright!" Then I thought to myself "I bet the next time I come back to this...I'll love it!!" 😄 And I bet I will to. Something I've had to teach myself is...tasting notes are only a snapshot of a bottle, but the overall impression doesn't come until it's finished. The good ones are those that return to the cabinet, over and over again 😉 Cheers mate.
@@WhiskeyNovice Some words of wisdom right there, Jim. We also only needed one distillery and one representation, if we all loved the same, right!? I guess it would have to be a quite mammoth of a distillery and warehouse to meet market demand 😁Looking forward to the GS 15 review.
My bottle of Arran Sherry Cask is from 2019 and lacks the latitude and longitude engravings on the cork stopper. Haven't opened it yet and can't tell if there are differences with more recent releases. Generally I like Arran house style. I prefer ex-bourbon cask matured or blends between ex-sherry and ex-bourbon casks over exlusive sherry cask matured Arran. I believe I have read somewhere about this one being around 9 years old and given its natural presentation I think it is at least OK :) In Bulgaria it costs ~35 euros so value-wise there is nothing to complain about too. I'm not a big fan of NAS (read it as young) cask strength sherry bombs anyway. I expect the sister bottling "The Bothy" to be more up my alley. Have tasted the old one, batch #2, from 2016, but don't remember much about it :) Haven't had Aberlour 12 Non Chill-filtered yet but it has been on my radar for quite some time now. Cheers!
Cheers buddy. Yet to try the Bothy and, given my run with Arran up until now, I won't rush toward it but...I have no doubt I'll pick it up at some point. Once again...incredible prices for you there. That's Bulgaria and Germany that I keep hearing these brilliant prices coming from. I suppose it's all relative but, it still sounds inviting.
@@WhiskeyNovice In general alcohol is dirt cheap here, especialy compared to Western Europe and UK. Low taxes and excise rates. Sadly, this is one of the main reasons why thousands of tourists come to our seaside resorts. They don't care about the sea, the beaches or the nature, they just want cheap booze to drink themselves stupid.
Oh I've had other Arrans. It was just that I wasn't a huge fan of the 10 when everyone else seemed to be raving about it. If I were to reommend an Arran, it would be the Port Cask. Cheers buddy.
![일상 속 기분 좋음 [Proto disco meme]](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/DwmEIaZ7XGQ/mqdefault.jpg)
Jim, my impression of this whisky was similar (but no dog food notes) and I recommended the Glenfarfclas 105 instead . Consequently I am getting more thumbs down responses than usual so I think there are lot of fan boys of this whisky out there. I put links to your review in the comment section of my video.
Cheers Erik. Can't please everyone as you know buddy. Arran is just one of those whiskys that people love. Heaven forbid we'd say anything bad about it.
I do enjoy Sunday mornings when I can relax and enjoy a fresh review from my pal, Jim. Great choice, Drew! I have heard so much about the Arran 10 but little about this one so I'm very glad you reviewed this. Based on the past 100+ reviews, I know that I have very similar preferences in whisky. So, this sounds like the Arran I should try, but this is probably not one I'll be enthusiastic about. I'll try it before I buy it, but I'm more likely to keep Aberlour in my cabinet since I do enjoy that very much. I hope the family is all back to good health soon.
Thank you Bud 🙏.
I think, for me certainly, that the Aberlour will always be the safer bet. That being said...we would never discover those hidden gems by playing safe all the time either 😉
Cheers mate.
One of my go to’s. Always makes people go “wow that’s rich”
Nice tribute to The Foo’s mate.🚀
Cheers Simon.
I have just ordered a bottle of this, and then I latched on to your review. Great, you could have told me you weren't so keen before I ordered🤣Seriously, I enjoyed your review and still glad I've bought a bottle. Like you said, no point in playing safe all the time. Thanks for sharing Jim 🥃🥃
You made a dogs dinner out of that Jim!
A great review as always. This was one of the first bottles I got when my journey started a couple of years back. I totally agree that water makes all the difference.
Cheers Al. This is one for me that, were it not for water...I don't think I'd return to it 😬
Excellent review as usual, Jim.
Thanks to Drew for picking this dram that in my opinion is way better than the 10yo.
I've had a bottle (only €40 here in NL) and tried a dram with water twice ... and left it after that. Didn't do much for me except from getting sharper.
Agree with you that it -despite being fairly cheap and CS and ...- still is not my whisky.
I prefer the regular Bunna 12 as an even more affordable sherry finished / matured whisky.
Slàinte mhath
Cheers Frank. Yeah, credit to Lochranza, they can make a well presented whisky and sell it for a competitive, affordable price but, it won't stop me struggling with some of their expressions.
In a whisky world FULL of hefty, ex-sherry cask matured, cask strength offerings...you better be producing a real barn-stormer to compete. Honestly...I'm tiring of them all a bit. When the battle cry is sounding like "MORE SHERRY INFLUENCE!! HIGHER ABV!! Etc." I'm thinking "can we not temper this a bit and add complexity?" I may change my mind again though 😄
Slàinte my friend.
Dogfood is a new note for me. LOL Fun review. This definitely seems like a young sherry bomb to me but complex beyond its age. My palate shifts a lot and regularly away from sherried whiskies. I can go months without pouring a sherried whisky. However when I drift back to them, I always enjoy this whisky.
Cheers Mike. I can fully understand why this is liked. Natural presentation, high ABV, great price, etc. On paper it's an absolute gem. Unfortunately for me....it just doesn't float my boat 😔
Thanks buddy.
That was a complex review, Jim. I found myself turning my nose up at the start and then relaxing a bit more as you added the water and it opened up. I had my eye on this, but am not so sure now. What other Arran's are there that you do like?
Cheers Rich. I've sampled the 18 and enjoyed it and I have the older bottling of the Port Cask which I'm particularly fond of. There will be reviews. I'm just a bit put off buying lots more Arran in the future 🤷♂️
Hey just while I'm on with you. I sent you a couple of emails over the last few weeks. Just curious if you saw them mate?
@@WhiskeyNovice Yes I got them. Replied to you. :). Check your junk mail folder just in case
This is one Arran that I haven't cracked yet but when I do it will be with Alpo already in mind. I find that sherry cask bottles can be pretty divisive amongst whisky geeks. Hits for some are misses for others. Personally I like whiskies that mix bourbon and sherry in the maturation. Best example for me of that lately was Kilchoman Sanaig. For me, the best whisky I have tasted so far in 2022. Cheers friend.
Cheers Bill. Weirdly, the Sanaig is another whisky that didn't do it for me. As a huge fan of the Machir Bay and peated malts with ex-bourbon and ex-sherry maturation...I had huge expectations for the Sanaig. I've very little left in my bottle because I kept (over time) returning, hoping something had changed but, alas it hadn't 😔.
But yet again, the amount of people who recommended Kilchoman Sanaig to me, tells me that it's a good 'un. I know it's a good 'un. But just not to my taste 😔
I guess we can't love 'em all eh'? 😉
I would love to find the NC version of Aberlour. Great review and good to give Arran Sherry Cask here a solid try here. Cheers!
Cheers Jon. That Aberlour is getting hard to find. I do wish they would replace their standard, off-par 12 with the NCF version.
Your reviews are very helpful for me!
Thank you.
Was through two bottles of this and the Quarter cask before I finally got to the 10. For me both bottles are bookends to keep on the shelf. Finally got the 10 after it won big at the OSWA's. Thing is they are all great to me along with every other Arran I have gotten. Dog food and Shoe Polish Yum! The nose on this I found kind of weak and muted especially when having side by side with Abuna'd batch 61 that had a far superior nose but on the palate it's very good. This is American oak while the Abuna'd is I think European oak (at least some of the casks) so kind of an apples and oranges thing. Hope that NCF 48% Aberlour 12 makes it to my area as it sound right up my ally. Cheers Jim
Cheers Tim. I don't know what the full story with the 12 NCF is. I had to go to a mainland European outlet to get this one. If Aberlour were mine...I'd stop putting out the (in my opinion) sub-par, weak and woeful standard 12 and replace it with this.
As for Arran...I always approach them (and reviewing them) with a little trepidation. I can understand their popularity and I do like others I've had but...it's always a bit of a gamble for my palate.
I reviewed this bottle at the end of October. Arran across the board can be tough to get in my province, so when I saw it on the shelf, I grabbed it.
I used to be sherry-averse, but Ive been exploring whisky much more over during the Plague, so Ive been acquiring the sherry tase. I loved this bottle, and I'll buy it again.
I also love the new look for Arran. It's got a great modern look, but it's still classy as heck.
Cheers Jesse.
So nice to hear the truth about Arran 🙏
Oh it's only an opinion. And I'd dare say there are many who would disagree with me but...thank you.
Do like your reviews Jim, 👍😀haven’t had the Arran sherry cask but the NCF Aberlour 12 have had ( not in the new bottle design though)and its a way far better experience than the normal 12. Is it on your list for a review at some point? .Slàinte Jim
Cheers David. It is buddy. I already have it on my next Bakers Dozen list. Although...that'll be some time early next year 😬
In continuation of our chat on Patreon, I honestly think you knock the review out of the park, Jim.
I must admit that I'm barely below the shoulder in my bottle - but that should be a "good thing" for me, as I don't really remember any bottles getting worse from a neck pour and on. My point being though that I'm not that familiar with this whisky just yet.
I also have to admit - that I'm quite an Arran fanboy, so I may even be biased on my first impression of this presentation. Now I'll look even more forward to my next pour from the bottle and see if I'm still as impressed, as I were by the first two pours, or whether I'll have some of the same reservations that you have. Make no mistake... it's not that it's "best sherried whisky ever" (I hope that I didn't give that impression), but price-value wise I definitely think it's a magnificent option to go for. For the time being at least - I too reserve the rights to change my mind by the hour, you know 😁
Another thing came to my mind regarding the "not in the mood" or "depending on the palate on the day" thing that you also mention. I had a Glen Scotia 15 yo a couple of weeks ago for the first time in quite a while. And I thought to myself... "what the... is this the whisky that I normally like so much?". I was genuinely quite disappointed in it on that day. But then this past Thursday - I poured another dram of it, and then it was all back to normal, the really really good single malt that I enjoy so much and will (hopefully) always have a place in my cabinet.
So if the Arran Sherry Cask is not "a whisky for you" even when your palate is "right" for it, then it's probably almost in the "bad" category, when you hit it on an "off palate" day...?
Great review as always, love hearing your perspective. Cheers! 🥃
🙏 thank you Benny.
That's part of whisky's talent isn't it!? It can prove itself to be great in almost every way but, still not appeal to everyone's tastes. But, as someone said to me recently...if we all loved it, then there wouldn't be enough to go around so...
Funny, regarding the GS 15...I have a bottle but only opened it recently so haven't spent enough time with it to have a view on it. But what I did think was (as a Glen Scotia fan) "everyone raves about this expression but...it's just alright!" Then I thought to myself "I bet the next time I come back to this...I'll love it!!" 😄 And I bet I will to.
Something I've had to teach myself is...tasting notes are only a snapshot of a bottle, but the overall impression doesn't come until it's finished. The good ones are those that return to the cabinet, over and over again 😉
Cheers mate.
@@WhiskeyNovice Some words of wisdom right there, Jim. We also only needed one distillery and one representation, if we all loved the same, right!? I guess it would have to be a quite mammoth of a distillery and warehouse to meet market demand 😁Looking forward to the GS 15 review.
@@bennyfriis601 🤣🤣 like Loch Lomond 😉
I started my bodega bottle recently, i think it's quite weak for such big abv. Maybe my batch wasn't the best one.
Any idea where I can get the Aberlour 12 NCF, im a huge Aberlour fan but never seen this instock anywhere?
I picked mine up at Fine Drams Gwyn. It is quite hard to get now.
Thanks I will keep an eye out 😉
My bottle of Arran Sherry Cask is from 2019 and lacks the latitude and longitude engravings on the cork stopper. Haven't opened it yet and can't tell if there are differences with more recent releases. Generally I like Arran house style. I prefer ex-bourbon cask matured or blends between ex-sherry and ex-bourbon casks over exlusive sherry cask matured Arran. I believe I have read somewhere about this one being around 9 years old and given its natural presentation I think it is at least OK :) In Bulgaria it costs ~35 euros so value-wise there is nothing to complain about too.
I'm not a big fan of NAS (read it as young) cask strength sherry bombs anyway. I expect the sister bottling "The Bothy" to be more up my alley. Have tasted the old one, batch #2, from 2016, but don't remember much about it :)
Haven't had Aberlour 12 Non Chill-filtered yet but it has been on my radar for quite some time now.
Cheers!
Cheers buddy. Yet to try the Bothy and, given my run with Arran up until now, I won't rush toward it but...I have no doubt I'll pick it up at some point.
Once again...incredible prices for you there. That's Bulgaria and Germany that I keep hearing these brilliant prices coming from. I suppose it's all relative but, it still sounds inviting.
@@WhiskeyNovice In general alcohol is dirt cheap here, especialy compared to Western Europe and UK. Low taxes and excise rates. Sadly, this is one of the main reasons why thousands of tourists come to our seaside resorts. They don't care about the sea, the beaches or the nature, they just want cheap booze to drink themselves stupid.
It is a sad truth 😔. I'll be there in the summer maybe 🤣
Dog food!?!? 😂 If your only experience with Arran is the 10 would you recommend this as the next Arran to try?
Oh I've had other Arrans. It was just that I wasn't a huge fan of the 10 when everyone else seemed to be raving about it. If I were to reommend an Arran, it would be the Port Cask.
Cheers buddy.
The Funky Undesirables? I think I went to see them in the late '90s
🤣🤣🤣🤣
Dogfood 🤣🐶
😉
Dog food? Why even do reviews. Anyone drawing meat from whiskey has little credibility. I think you Arran a hugh apology
Nob. Lol