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Isle of Arran 2001/2012 (55.2%, OB for Kensington, Bourbon, C#808, 233 Bts., D’13/12/2001, B’12/09/2012) 

Yet another single cask selected for Kensington in Calgary, in 2011 they bottled Arran KWM Bourbon Barrel – Distilled July 9th, 1999 – Bottled January 19th 2011 – 11 Years – 57.4% – 202 individually numbered bottles and Arran KWM Sherry Hogshead – Distilled April 2nd 1998 – Bottled January 19th 2011 – 12 Years – 55.3% – 282 individually numbered bottles. This latest is from an ex-American bourbon cask and on the nose there are some slight hints of gin, the high alcohol comes through but then after just a few moments in the glass some wafts of toasted sour dough bread starts to emerge followed by hints of heather, rose water and some sweet malt. There are also tantalizing moments of BBQ; somewhat multi-faceted. With water some further sweetness emerges, more malt and caramel or even barley sugar. The undiluted taste is big, aggressive and quite vibrant with loads of malt. With water the whisky is significantly more approachable (it handles quite a bit of water with aplomb) and is much like the undiluted nose with the lighter fragrant notes working well with the malt and sweet notes. The finish is much like fizzy orange drink (think of a soda that’s been sitting in the sun a while and has lost some of its fizz) with lots of malt. There’s lots of mouth smacking moments of malt (try saying that 3 times quickly). As times winds in the malt comes to dominate and grow, astonishing.

Vibrant, active, big and malty but not as malty as previous bottlings in the nose and the taste but certainly in the finish.

$88 (for a cask strength single cask whisky – well done!)

86 points