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- Suggested retail price: $139
- Thursday, February 19 (for as long as it lasts), we're pouring a one-ounce pour for $4.50
If you were to travel to the far Northeast of Ireland, North of Belfast, put your currach (leather skinned boat) into the sea and row North about 15 Miles, you would make land at the famous Campbeltown, Scotland, producer of singular single malts. Row another 15 miles Northeast of Campbeltown and you would wash up on the Isle of Arran. On this beautiful island, where deer outnumber people, there had not been a legal distillery in 150 years. That's not to say it was a dry island; just that there were no legal distilleries. That all changed when Harold Currie, a former director of Chivas opened the Arran Distillery in 1995. The first cask was opened in 1998 to much acclaim. The water (a crucial component to whisky) for the malt is from Loch na Davie. The master distiller is James MacTaggert. Not exactly new to the whisky game, he cut his teeth at Bowmore, where he spent almost 30 years before taking on the Arran project. His skill is redoubtable.
Starting a brown-liquor distillery from scratch is no small feat, and one must be sufficiently capitalized to wait for your stocks to mature, and to wait and wait and wait. For at least a decade after the first precious distillate is placed in its very expensive oak cask, a Scottish distillery is not at anywhere near full production cycle. After three years, the first whisky can be sold, but still more must be produced to add to the 12 year. It seems obvious to point out that you've got to wait 12 years for the first 12 year whisky. You've got to make and barrel a year's production 12 times before you sell one bottle. Just think about that math and the chances these guys took when they plunked down the cash in 1993 and put the Isle of Arran on the map of Scotch whisky. Remember, in 1993, Scotch Whisky was not nearly as popular as it is today. They backed the right horse, of course. Worldwide demand is at an all-time high and The Arran's is known for quality it's singular expression of the distillers' art and it's island home.
Limited Edition Bottling
The Devil's Punchbowl is a project of special bottlings. The warehouse on Arran has yielded some pretty spectacular results. A master distiller's role is to make a consistent line of products that taste very similar year-on-year. The house's straight 12 year expression you buy your uncle for Christmas next year should be very much the same as the one you bought him last year. This has been particularly true for James MacTaggert, for he did not inherit a style going back a hundred years. He did not inherit old stocks of whisky with detailed warehouse notes on how each barrel performs in each part of the warehouse and in Arran's unique climate. He did not have examples in library of old bottlings to compare. He had to create it himself over the last 20 years. It's a pretty remarkable feat.
The limited bottling allows Mr. MacTaggert some room to play. Mr. MacTaggert here casts himself in the role of whisky 'sorcerer,' conjuring unique and quite opinionated blends from some of his finest barrels. Over the top? Yes. But am I curious? Yes. As I said, he's a talented guy working with great stock. I look forward to seeing what he does here unconstrained. Chapter III: The Fiendish Finale was matured in five bourbon barrels, eight oloroso sherry butts, and eight French oak barriques. Unlike it's two predecessors, this whisky is not peated. I look forward to opening a bottle with you at precisely 6:30 on Thursday February 19th. When it's gone, it's gone.
Next Week In The Spirits Project
The Exclusive Malts - Littlemill 25 Year (1988)