Arran distillery, properly the Isle of Arran Distillers site at Lochranza, first drew spirit in 1995 under the eye of Harold Currie, a former Chivas director who assembled private investors to bring legal distilling back to the island for the first time in over 150 years. The distillery has since grown into one of the more respected independents in Scotland, and recently gained a sister site at Lagg on the island's southern tip for peated production.
Quarter Cask, subtitled The Bothy, takes fully matured Arran spirit and finishes it in 125-litre ex-bourbon quarter casks. The smaller format exposes the whisky to a much greater ratio of wood to liquid, pulling colour, tannin and spice at an accelerated rate. It is bottled at cask strength, 56.2%, without chill-filtration or colouring.
The nose opens with vanilla, coconut and green apple, the signatures of active American oak. The palate is oily and sweet at first, offering barley sugar and cinnamon toast, before the quarter cask's tannic grip asserts itself with tangerine zest and dry spice. The finish is long and warming, drying steadily into toasted oak.
A loud expression by Arran standards, and an effective showcase for what small wood can do to a clean island malt.
