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#109: Arran Robert Burns

Writer's picture: S&PS&P

Our first Arran here on S&P. We've got a second Arran review coming in July with Sean's pick Arran Bodega. Not very many distilleries left to try! Glenkinchie is still out there, Cragganmore, Craigellachie, Brackla, Balblair, Bladnoch, Ardmore, Edradour, Benromach, Tobermory/Ledaig, and that's about it! At least for the distilleries that put out standard offerings. We'll get our hands on all of those at some point in the next year for sure.


Arran Robert Burns, 43% ABV, $52 CAD, Isle of Arran, ex-bourbon and ex-sherry casks.


We sniff around.


Apples. Red apples. Dried apple chips. Apple crumble pie. Apple sauce/puree. It's sweeter than a fresh apple. Trevor pulls a little caramel hiding in the background, but we all converge on the sweet/concentrated apples. Sean pulls a sweet honey and some cereal notes.


We cheers.


Pretty much a copy paste from the nose. Apples, a little heat. Trevor pulls a slight burnt taste. Mild bitterness that Simon likes. We agree there's a little bit of a char, maybe a bourbon influence with the char and heat? Scott says grilled apples. Still that apple sauce, candied apple too. Apple taste sticks around for a bit on the finish. Little chewy/oily. Sean still gets the honey coming through with a sweet finish.


Reviews: Scott's pick so he starts us off. He's mostly unimpressed, it's plain without a ton to dig into. Not terrible but not something he feels he needs to come back to. Rates this a 61. Trevor thinks the nose is basic but he had a few interesting flavors, specifically the charred pepper to go along with the apple. Nothing too crazy but he likes it. 72. Simon likes scotches like this. Nice nose nice palate. Nothing bad to say about it aside that it's simple so it can't rate too high but still, this type will always do decent in his books. 70 for him. Kyle think it's bland but fine. Lands him at a 65. Sean is more on the low 70s side, pins this at 71. Averages out to 67.8.


Overall: This is fine value. For $52 CAD you get a simple, drinkable, sweet drink. There's a bit of disagreement within the crew whether this is too boring or just fine with an ice cube on a hot summer day. At that price point, if you're looking for something on the lighter sweeter side, this isn't a bad pick and we rated it higher than most of the other similar options in that price range. For comparison with similar apple forward scotches: Glen Grant 12 rated 63, Glenfiddich 12 was 64.8, Auchentoshan American Oak was 68.2, Glenlivet 15 was 67.8, and Glenlivet 12 was 55.8.


Cheers!

The S&P Crew.

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