For our July Malt Club, we welcomed Bart Burgers from Malts of Distinction. Malts of Distinction is an Auckland based wholesaler and importer of liquor. Bart, an avid lover of all things whisky, showed us the world of Arran Malts. The Arran Distillery is nestled on the Isle of Arran; just off the shores of Scotland. Arran Single Malt Whiskies are a fine example of the true art of whisky distilling, and Master Distiller James MacTaggart with over 40 years’ experience, ensures that every drop produced is given the best opportunity to fully mature in hand selected oak barrels – The line-up of the night absolutely lived up to this expectation.
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Bart started the tasting off with some introductory basics of their production processes, then shared how to explore the sight, smell and taste of the liquids. Before we climbed our way through some of their core range; 10-year-old, 14-year-old and 18-year-old – all in which display a great achievement for a distillery that only opened in 1995. Subsequently, the Arran Madeira Cask Finish (50% ABV), which was a real treat, for the reason that we had the last 4 bottles left in New Zealand; you can bet that all bottles were sold afterwards.
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For the first time ever for Bart, we tasted side by side the Arran Machrie Moor and Arran Machrie Moor Cask Strength. These rare and well received Arran peated malt releases come with robust flavour profiles surely to please any peaty lover. We then finished the evening with the James MacTaggart 10th Anniversary bottling; a limited-edition release in celebration of the Master Distillers 10th year with Arran. This unique release has been created from a selection of first fill bourbon barrels bottled at natural cask strength (54.2% ABV).
