Malts and Monument Mountain

What’s the fastest thing on the planet? Someday soon, the answer to that important question will be found on the slopes of Monument Mountain in the Berkshires. But since we don’t have time to address that important philosophical question in this posting, let me turn instead to a couple of malts about which I don’t recall having ever posted before. (It’s always nice to find some new whiskies to taste, and to describe.)

At the Haters Ball, John and I tasted the ten-year old Arran Malt, but without the benefit of notes, I couldn’t recall much of anything when we got around to writing a couple weeks later. This time, G-Man and I sat down, in Andy’s living room, and with the assistance of some whisky novices, who nonetheless had discerning palates, took careful notice of this recent offering from the Isle of Arran. This distillery is one of Scotland’s newest, having opened in 1995. Several years ago, when looking for a mild tasting malt, something without the peat characteristics of Islay whisky, I purchased an Arran without any age statement. Came to find out that it lacked an age statement because the distillery was so new. They really didn’t have much aged product at that time. Well, now they have released a ten-year old malt, at a very moderate price, and I’m pleased to say that it made a very favorable impression on me.

Arran is a clean, light-bodied malt, in many ways reminiscent of lowland whisky. The nose is floral (someone detected chamomile, but that’s way too subtle for me). The color is light gold; think of Bladnoch here, both in terms of appearance and nose. There is a bite to this malt, but that may be because Arran bottles at 46%, to avoid chill filtering. And it’s still a tad bit sharp, but pretty much what you’d expect from a ten-year old whisky. Let’s give it another six years in the barrel, to mellow out, and for the flavor to fill out, and this just might become a very impressive malt. For now, for under $40, it’s a great buy, and an excellent before-dinner drink. You know, the kind of whisky you reach for when walking in the door after an aggravating day at work, or maybe just the whisky you have in the middle of the afternoon, on a warm fall day, in the middle of the Berkshires, hanging out with old friends. Old old friends.

We also tasted some Scapa 16, thanks to G-Man. Scapa hails from the Orkney Islands, in the way north of Scotland. I guess that HP is the only distillery found at a more northern latitude. In any event, this was a very pleasing malt. Here are the notes: Nose was soft, with hints of citrus and vanilla. (That’s courtesy of Peggy and Susan; no way I can find those smells.) The taste is not unlike a highland malt, with a hint of peat and pepper. The best feature of the whisky, however, was its long satisfying finish. I think the most telling feature of a great whisky is the finish, and Scapa’s finish clearly gives it points in my book. I know I tasted it once before, but can’t remember where. I guess from reading Jackson, that one of the problems with Scapa is its irregular production, which may explain why it’s not typically found on shelves, or behind bars, in upstate NY. In any event, thanks G. This was a fine malt, and I’m glad you brought it up to Great Barrington.

By the way, you may have noticed that I have refrained from posting about the baseball season this last month. And really, what was there to post about, other than the recurring theme this year -- the collapse of the bullpen? This past weekend, the Sox were prevented from a sweep of the Yankees, in the stadium no less, by another Papelbon blown save. I know he only surrendered a single run; it wasn’t one of those complete meltdowns. But how many games has the bullpen single-handedly lost this year?? Oh well, looks like the Haters Ball 2010 will be hosted by the Red team, not the Pinstripes.