The cask strength edition of Machrie Moor is what happens when the distillery lets the peated Arran spirit speak without the softening hand of the reducing tank. Bottled at full strength from a selection of ex-bourbon casks, non chill-filtered and natural in colour, it presents the Machrie Moor character in concentrate.
The series has been released in numbered batches, each at a slightly different ABV depending on the casks chosen, but the recipe is consistent: peat at around 20 ppm, bourbon wood and the maritime warehouses of Lochranza on the northern tip of the island. The name again honours the Bronze Age standing stones of the Machrie, a landscape that pre-dates the distillery by some four thousand years.
The nose is intense and unmistakably coastal: peat smoke, sea salt, vanilla cream and baked lemon. The palate is oily and powerful, as cask strength Arran tends to be, with tarry smoke, honey, black pepper and brine pulling in different directions without ever losing the thread. A drop of water opens it up considerably, releasing more of the bourbon-cask vanilla. The finish is long, the smoke holding its ground against the citrus and the warmth of the alcohol.
It is the most assertive face Arran shows the world, and a useful reminder that the island, though quieter than its peated cousins to the west, can raise its voice when required.
