Arran 21 yo 1996 Douglas Laing Old Malt Cask 636 bottles 50% vs Benromach 10 yo 43% vs Cragganmore 1976 / 1991 Gordon & Macphail Cask #3583-3584 55.8%
Arran 21 yo 1996 Douglas Laing Old Malt Cask 636 bottles 50%
A load of sweet cooked notes from butterscotch and boiled orange peel. Clove candy too. Flambed banana, brine, olives and fresh dug earth. Would be very strange had it not disclosed its rum cask maturation. Black tea, sweet spices, and milk chocolate. Not a high ester rum at that. Overall Arran isn’t a big malty whisky and it shows here, perhaps a little thin with some shortness on the palate, and some obvious rum aspects. 86 pts
Benromach 10 yo 43%
I have been mightily impressed by the quality of G&M owned Benromach. Here a distinctly earthy but dry profile with mulch, cold leather jackets in wintry air, fallen pine needles, cedar, bark chippings and slight woodsmoke. Only a little too oaky and tannic on the tongue, with oversteeped tea leaves and vegetable leather dye, though it is hard to say if that’s from the wood or a natural aspect of the whisky. 87 pts note the 10 yo 100 proof is much better.
Cragganmore 1976 / 1991 Gordon & Macphail Cask #3583-3584 55.8%
High toned and somewhat powerful without any of the expressiveness of the Benromach. Still there’s mulch again, this time in the sense of the slight decay of wet brown leaves. Also linseed oil and paraffin wax, cold and clean, leaning industrial even. Not an easy or lush nose by any means. It’s certainly one of the ascetic ones. Petrichor, tree moss, cold butter, and waxed oranges, the sort that is even a little sticky in your fingers. Hard to score but I reckon 87 pts
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