Isle of Arran Distillery
Lochranza
Arran
History: Not all Scottish distilleries have to have 100s of years of history making great single malt to build upon. Opened in 1995 by Harold Currie, former director of Chivas blended Scotch, Arran Distillery has quickly picked up a reputation as one of the most innovative whisky makers in the business. During the construction of the distillery a pair of golden eagles built their nest on a cliff near the distillery; since golden eagles are a protected species, construction of the distillery was temporarily halted. This is also why you will see the icon of a golden eagle on their packaging. This is the first “legal” distillery to be opened on the island since 1837. This is no small “craft” distillery, they are set up to produce almost one million litres of spirit per year to keep up with demand they are building across the world.
The whisky: They have a couple of natural resources that make ideal conditions for creating whisky. Arran is home to the purest water in all of Scotland, water that’s been cleansed by granite and softened by peat as it comes down from the mountaintops into nearby Loch na Davie. The second is that Arran enjoys a warm microclimate. The atmosphere of sea breezes and clear mountain air, together with the warm flow of the Gulf Stream, is ideal for the getting more out of their maturation of the single malts. They have a varied range when it comes to flavour and are constantly coming out with new products. The newest to hit the shelves this year is the 18-year-old, which has had rave reviews since its release.
Favourite dram: To be honest all of their whiskies are worth a go. They don't filter any of their single malts which many believe is a positive in the industry. By not filtering the whisky at the end of the production they believe they don't strip out any flavours during the process, giving the whisky more of a mouth-feel. I was lucky enough to try the Arran Machrie Moor (named after the eponymous peat bog located on the west coast of the island) 6th edition bottling. This is a lightly-peated Arran Single Malt with bags of flavour and well worth the £45 to £50 price tag.
Why visit?: I can’t help but have a soft spot for Scottish and independently owned distilleries. Combine that with one of my favourite places to visit in Scotland and a great-tasting single malt and I'm pretty much in my own Caledonian heaven. Even though this is a relatively new building they have done a great job in making it look and feel like it has been here for ever, with many authentic touches such as the traditional pagoda roof which you will find in most of Scotland's oldest distilleries. The visitors centre which was officially opened by the queen in 1997 is open pretty much seven days per week all year round. You can choose from the standard tour for £7.50 which lasts around 45 minutes and includes two drams, up to the tutored tasting which includes four drams for £15. These tours fill up pretty quickly, so I would suggest calling ahead to book you tour.
Interesting fact: After the Act of Union with England in 1707, Scotch whisky was taxed so heavily that distillers were driven underground. A long and often bloody battle arose between the excisemen, or gaugers as they were known, and the illicit distillers, who refused to pay the high tax on their whisky. Smuggling became standard practice for some 150 years. In the early 19th century, there were more than 50 whisky distilleries on Arran, most of them illegal and carefully hidden from the eyes of the taxmen. The island’s malt whisky was shipped to the mainland and enjoyed by the gentry.
Follow me on twitter @andydrink or on Facebook
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules here