2011 Claxton's Warehouse No.1 Arran "Peated" 10 Year Old Cask Strength Single Malt Scotch Whisky (700ml)

Arran takes a leaf out of Jura's playbook, producing a genuine pussycat: The peat feels like a delicate, translucent glaze over the barley, rather than an opaque layer but attains a harder line on the palate in an almost earthy, dry minerality that is rarely encountered in Scottish malts. The smoke mingles with bittersweet cocoa and dried grassy tones making for a fascinating, quasi-mezcal kind of experience. So soft and so unexpected. Islands, perhaps, but you'd never suspect it was from Arran. Bourbon barrel matured. 203 bottles. 56.3% Alc./Vol. Non chill filtered.

Notes from the bottlers... NOSE: Heather honey (Mead). Rich vanilla. Herbal. PALATE: Mouth coating and moreish. Rich oak and honey. FINISH: Like a honey lozenge. Long, sweet oaky aftertaste.