Scotch Whiskey Review #169: Cadenhead’s Authentic Collection Arran 22 Year

Distillery: Arran

Region: Island

Price: Part of a sample swap

Cask Type: Bourbon Hogshead, Single Cask

ABV: 49.6% Cask Strength (??)

Age: 22 Year

Color: 0.6, Old Gold. Natural Color and Non-Chill Filtered

Nose: (according to the wife) There’s a lot of light and fresh tropical fruits. It mostly smells of piña colada but it’s joined by a nice bit of coconut and papaya as well. It reminded her of our honeymoon to Cancún.

Palate: It’s very rich in flavor as well as slightly oily/creamy. It starts with the very distinct note of guava candies, specifically these ones. It’s sweet with a trace bit of tartness. That tart note leads directly to a slightly tart pineapple. Following the pineapple comes a well ripened papaya and a bit of oak spice. With a few drops of water, it becomes far creamier and the oak spices disappear. There’s more fruit in the forms of papaya and cantaloupe along with a slightly earthy and slightly grainy note. Towards the back end is a note of toasted coconut chips. I’ll note that I also tasted a bit of slightly bitter burnt sugar but I am nearly 100% sure that’s a remnant from the dinner I had just before this where I’d slightly burnt my mother’s chicken wing sauce which tasted very similarly and not the whisky itself.

Finish: Long in length. More of the creamy papaya and toasted coconuts chips are present. It finishes off much like iced hibiscus tea.

Conclusion: When we visited Scotland last year, visiting Cadenhead’s in Edinburgh had been on my list of things to do. Unfortunately, due to timing, we weren’t able to go and that’s just left me wanting to try a whisky from them even more. This bottling of a well aged Arran turned out to be the perfect opportunity to do so and I’ve got to say, it’s fantastic. The nose is inviting with a lot of freshness and fruitiness. The palate has layers of fruit in it that’s backed by a slight bit of earthiness. The finish is nice and long and leaves me wanting for me. Beautiful whisky. I am left wondering what exactly happened to this cask for the cask Strength to only be 49.6% ABV but it is fantastic nonetheless. Would I buy a bottle? If I could find one, absolutely.

Final Score: 86.

Scotch Whisky Review #169, Island Review #26, Whisky Network Review #231

Scoring Legend:

• 96-100: The perfect dram, nectar of the gods.
• 90-95: Near perfect, there is something truly special about this whisky.
• 85-89: Amazing, will always try to keep a bottle of this in my collection (if feasible).
• 80-84: Very Good, maybe only one minor nitpick about the whisky keeping it here.
• 75-79: Good, quite enjoyable to drink.
• 70-74: Solid, wouldn’t go out of my way to get it.
• 60-69: Meh, still drinkable.
• Below 59: If you have a bottle of this, start cooking with it instead.