Official Bottling | 55.8% ABV
Score: 6/10
Good stuff.
TL;DR
Good stuff at the right value checkpoint
Resolutions
It’s mid-January 2025 as I write this, and I’m right on schedule with breaking my New Year’s resolutions. As usual. Going to the gym? Prospects look grim. Eat more kale? Automatic fail. Get more sleep? Broken promises lying in a heap. Lose some weight? How about you lose some weight pal?!
I hope you’re doing better than I am, if you’re one who makes promises to yourself at the turn of a new year. New year’s resolutions are most well-known for how easy to break they are. That might be because a lot of folks seem to tackle too much all at once: making a major habitual life change at the stroke of a clock is, for most, very difficult. For good reasons, of course: habits are built up over years and decades, and so making a personal pledge after a night of New Year’s party libations are not surprisingly pretty flimsy foundations on which to spark even the best-intentioned personal change and growth.
Baby steps, it appears, are the secret. There’s a fair amount of research which shows that rather than making Big Promises for a New Year’s resolution, we should do the opposite. Commit to making a few small changes. Changes that are easier to tackle. Do something small enough that you can actually accomplish, thereby giving yourself the ability to make measurable progress. Instead of committing to a fairly vague goal of “losing weight,” instead commit to losing 10 pounds in three months. Instead of a big, general “eating healthier” goal, commit to eating vegetarian twice a week at first. Not only will accomplishing goals give you the mental encouragement to keep going, but doing so will give you the little dopamine hits that your brain needs to make these changes into everyday habits.
Dry January is in the same ballpark as New Year’s resolutions. Maybe you do it, maybe you don’t. If you do, well done. If you don't, maybe that’s because you’ve in-built other mechanisms into your alcohol hobby which aim at moderation. I’ll confess I don’t do Dry January even though I honestly think it’s a great idea – when done very conscious of what the aim is. I’ve tried before, but when I did I tended to hit it a bit too hard come February 1st.
What I do instead is to take a week off of all alcohol every month or 6 weeks throughout the year. This seems to just work better for me personally, as it provides not only a regular break for the liver, but also a frequent sense-check for self-control. This has worked for me since I started drinking whisky some six years ago now.
Having just touted the virtues of small goals, I’ll practice what I preach and share one goal I’ve made for 2025: no new bottles.
At least for a while.
I should have a specific timeline in mind (3 months? 6 months? All of 2025??!), but I’m going to try and make it until spring before buying any new bottles. This is largely because of an issue that probably many of you can relate to: I’m simply running out of space.
The shelves are creaking deep in the bunker here inside Fort Drummond. Starting in the early days of lockdown in 2020 until very recently, I’ve amassed a collection that would take me many, many years to drink. So, along with some not-so-subtle encouragement from Mrs. Drummond, I’m keeping my powder dry for the next few months. It helps that my FOMO rapidly subsided over the course of 2024, which is a topic for another review soon.
The good news is that there are plenty of bottles in the bunker that are ready to be opened and reviewed, such as today’s wee Arran Sherry Cask.
Review
Arran Sherry Cask, NAS, Official Bottling, bottle code 26.10.22, 55.8% ABV
£59 and wide availability
I should thank Earie for his recent review of Arran 10yo, which reminded me not only have I been meaning to review this Sherry Cask expression for some time, but also that we don’t seem to have reviewed it before. It comes in at cask strength at 55.8%, but there’s no specific information on the bottle or the website about what type of ex-sherry casks were used to mature this. I would wager both first and second-fill Oloroso. They do give us the cask size as 250 litre hogsheads. The website is also unclear on the maturation composition, and doesn’t mention either a full maturation or a finish. I should also mention the bottling date stamped on the bottle as 26.10.22, which from memory sounds about when I bought this around Christmas that year.
Score: 6/10
Good stuff.
TL;DR
Good stuff at the right value checkpoint
Nose
Oak and orange. Strong and silky. Dried cranberries, some gentle maltiness, honey, and cherry liquorice. Not a sherry bomb on the nose, but a nice balance between familiar sherry cask influences and the lighter qualities of the Arran spirit that Earie pointed out a few days ago.
Palate
Orange, oak, nutmeg, cinnamon, vanilla pods, dried plums and cherries, honey. Again familiar sherry qualities again married well with the Arran spirit: juicy maltiness, sweet grassiness, and dark-plus-light fruits. Chocolate orange. Not super complex, but pleasantly interesting enough. A splash of water didn’t do much for me; I’d suggest keeping it at its very drinkable 55.8%.
The Dregs
I like that this isn’t a sherry bomb, despite the “Sherry Cask” proclamation in large font across the label. Yet thankfully “Sherry Cask” doesn’t necessarily designate a fig-raisin-tobacco-leather smorgasbord Glenallachie 10yo Cask Strength experience, as much as I might enjoy that on occasion. This is very much some young-ish Arran spirit married expertly well with some good casks which delivers an enjoyable experience for the asking price. As with everything the last couple of years, the price on this has gone up: I paid about £52 for this two years ago, yet it now retails for closer to £59. I still think that that’s good value, and I’d buy it at £59. We should commend Arran for keeping these finishes at cask strength and reasonable prices. You can check out Broddy’s take on the Port Cask Finish as well.
There was some interesting chat in the comments on Earie’s review of the Arran 10yo in which he said it took him a while to warm up to Arran (despite all of the accolades it’s received, particularly the OSWAs), and several of you agreed. Some wondered whether Arran 10 really deserves Best Entry Level or Whisky of the Year in a head-to-head with the likes of Deanston 12, Glencadam 10, or Ledaig 10. Some of you mentioned how you have found it hard to warm to any Arran expression. All fair enough, of course.
Yet this Sherry Cask release illustrates something that I think the 10 year old does as well: it manages to zone in on that sweet spot of price, value, and enjoyment. For the money, it’s a good cask-strength experience and a fair one at that at £59.
This seems to be one of the reasons why Arran is found in so many peoples’ good books. Long may it last.
Score: 6/10
Tried this? Share your thoughts in the comments below. DD
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Other opinions on this:
Whiskybase
GWhisky (video)
The Whiskey Novice (video)
MALT (2022)
Got a link to a reliable review? Tell us.
