Scotch Whisky Review #301: The Arran Malt Single Island Malt Scotch Whisky

Distillery: Arran/Lochranza.

Region: Island.

Age: NAS. WhiskyBase reviews comment that it is rumored to be a 4 year old

ABV: 43.0%

Price: $15 for a pour at Dundee Dell in Omaha, NE.

Color: 0.2, Pale Straw. Natural Color and Non-Chill Filtered.

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Nose: It’s fairly intense even for a 43%-er. There’s a ton of tropical fruits packed in here. I couldn’t pick any out specifically but there was a bunch of it along side a little bit of malt barley coming through.

Palate: Fairly simplistic. Pineapples were the main note along with a spritz of lemon. Some of the malt comes through nicely as well..

Finish: Medium in length. The tropical fruit mix is what lingers most.

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Conclusion: The other weekend we went to celebrate the return of Omaha’s spiritual home of Scotch whisky, the Dundee Dell. Gone is the dive bar though, it’s been replaced with a gastropub with a dedicated whisky bar attached. Speaking with the new owner, most of the collection that made the Dell so special seems to have grown legs and walked off since the closure (though he did mention that there were about 200 bottles in the basement they were still working through) which while not a surprise, was still sad to hear. Tucked in the corner of one of this shelves though was this bottle of Arran, one of it’s earlier bottlings. While simplistic, it is very much identifiable as an Arran with tons of tropical fruit notes all over the place. This nice little glimpse into the past was fun and I’m very glad to have been able to try it.

Final Score: 77

Scotch Whisky Review #301, Island Review #47, Whisky Network Review #444

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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.