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Basking in a warm breeze from Iberia, we nosed pastel de nata with cinnamon, packets of raisins and slices of caña de lomo served with fig jam. The palate contained lovely dusky sweetness – cocoa powder and dark chocolate, dandelion and burdock (or artisan cola), and yeast extract and chilli jam smeared on rye crackers. Adding water, our noses found dried apricots, pork sausage with fennel seeds and a central thrust of chocolate and orange (chocolate chews, marmalade, chocolate orange). The palate retained its mouth-coating texture and now suggested flavours of apple wine, caraway seed and balsamic glaze drizzled over ripe figs.
About Arran
The Isle of Arran has played host to many distilleries, mostly illicit and the last legal distillery closed in 1835. What is surprising is that it took until 1995 for a still to run again as the Arran distillery at Lochranza came online. Financed mostly by Harold Currie who had retired from Chivas, the team also sought investment from 2000 investors who gave up £450 for a share of future whiskies. Many of whom turned up for the official opening, including a descendent of the last person to be killed on Arran for distilling illegally. Since the initial days, Arran distillery has prospered thanks to an array of cask types and special editions. The whisky, in time, has come of age and growing demand meant an expansion in 2017, with a new pair of stills. Things went even further in 2019 when a second distillery (Lagg) was established at the southern end of Arran.