Arran Arran The Illicit Stills Smugglers' Series Vol. 1 Limited Release 56,4% NV

Professional reviews

Serge Valentin (82)

I guess you’ve seen this bottle and the funny ‘carved’ book it comes with, Sergio-Leone-style. Indeed, viva spaghetti westerns!, but isn’t it amazing that they have to do all this, however smart and lovely and funny and perfectly executed it is, to sell us NAS whisky? Because indeed, I don’t seem to find any mentions of an age or of a vintage. So if it's not age-driven, maybe is it flavour-dirven (as they no say) - or is it only packaging-driven? Colour: gold. Nose: can you smoke fresh butter? Starts rather rounded, and, indeed, buttery (not butyric), but it tends to become smokier and smokier, with echoes of young modern Ardbeg. Hessian, perhaps, autumn leaves, a touch of antiseptic… With water: damp hessian, clean mud, porridge, smoke, plasticine. A lot of plasticine. Mouth (neat): a clean, ashy, pretty Islay-style dram, only a notch sweeter, but not quite in the Ardmore or peated-Benriach-style, although I do find peaches in syrup. Is that clear? With water: good sweet peat. Smoked tinned pears – or tinned smoked pears. Yes I know that doesn’t exist. Finish: medium, a tad more citrusy. Comments: I find this style a notch… say hesitant. Not quite a peater, and yet there’s some fairly loud peat, but it’s also got this sweet fruity profile, and yet… Ah another one that lost me. But very good it is.