Hmmmm. Good. Never judge a dram by your first glass, but first impression was just a tad bit underwhelming. I heard this was better than the Arran 10... didn't drink 'em side by side but my first impression is that the Arran 10 is considerably better for my taste.
Reminded me of the Glenmorangie 10... albeit on a higher ABV, unchillfiltered and uncolored... also a bit more complex... but not too much. Really spirit driven... young. But it was far from bad... I'm sure I'll come around, I think most of my bottles took some time to understand and really appreciate... this being a 1l bottle I'll have plenty other chances to do just that
. It does feel like a warm weather dram, so yay!? Also, the color is extremely light, the lightest colored whisky I have by far. I guess that's expected when they're matured exclusively in ex-bourbon casks (and don't add freaking caramel).
Also I don't think I was really in a whisky mood today, but I was anxious to try this. Took me 2 hours to finish this little glass, hahahaha. I'll try it again this weekend, see how it goes. I did add a wee bit of water before I was done, it got really hazy... I like that. Chillfilter my ass MFs.
If I hadn't gotten this I would have bought the Balvenie 16 triple cask today on a ridiculous deal. I almost did anyway... if it wasn't 40%, chill filtered and artificially colored I would probably have bought it anyway. I'm sure it's still good, it's a freaking Balvenie and it's 16 years old. I wish they went for integrity bottling though like they do on their single barrel ones.
I remember trying the Balvenie 12 Single Barrel (ex-bourbon) and wasn't impressed... maybe I'm just way more into sherry and that's it. Arran 10 doesn't detail what casks they used and it's supposedly mostly ex-bourbon, but it does have a hint of sherry, could explain why I liked it better (supposedly, jury won't be out until I try them side by side).
Cheers?
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