{"product_id":"2008-arran-moscatel-cask-single-malt","title":"The Arran 2008 Moscatel Cask","description":"\u003cp\u003eJames MacTaggart is the Master Distiller at Arran and since taking over the job in 2007 he’s brought his simple but effective philosophy of ‘a contemporary whisky, a traditional distillation’ to bear with exceptional results. Arran uses the traditional methods of distilling including wooden washbacks for fermentation and copper pot stills designed to their exact specification. No caramel or artificial colourants are tolerated and all Single Malts are non-chill filtered, which as we all know means they’re natural in pigment and exactly the way whisky should be.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eThe distillery uses two types of barley, Optic and Oxbridge, both selected because of their superior yields of fermentable sugars for the distiller to convert into alcohol. The malted barley is put through the distillery’s grist-mill before being mashed, yielding around 13,000 litres of wort per batch, before being fermented in the distillery’s Oregon Pine washbacks. There’s an age-old debate as to the use of wooden washbacks vs. stainless steel with traditionalists arguing that the residue build up in the wooden washback adds more flavour to the whisky. You be the judge.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eThe Arran Single Malt is double distilled in the traditional Scottish style, first in the wash still, followed by the spirit still. The liquid is boiled in the wash still by means of internal steam fins, and driven off as a vapour that passes through the tall, swan neck of the still. This vapour then passes through a condenser where it is brought back to a liquid form, known as Low Wines. The Low Wines are collected in the receiver from the first distillation at around 23% ABV.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eThe Low Wines are then filled into the spirit still for the second distillation. Again, the liquid in the spirit still is boiled by internal steam fins and after 30 minutes foreshots begin to appear in the spirit safe. Foreshots appear at 74% ABV but contain too many volatile compounds to be collected as spirit so these are diverted into the Low Wines\/Feints receiver. After a further 20 minutes spirit known as the heart or middle-cut of the run can be collected at an average strength of 68% ABV. This is reduced with local water to 63.5% ABV and is then filled into oak casks for maturation.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eArran are currently filling about 75% first fill bourbon barrels, 15% first fill Sherry Hogsheads and about 10% refill Sherry Hogsheads and Butts. Interestingly, until 2007 a proportion of the casks were stored off the island at nearby Springbank Distillery in Campbelltown due to a lack of room at the distillery caused by legal restrictions preventing the extension of the existing warehouses. But as we know, problems lead to innovative solutions and the distillery now has a revolutionary storage warehouse on site that allows greater storage capacity and easier access to barrels. Today there are six warehouses onsite at the distillery, a mixture of dunnage, racking and palletised, and there plans to build further warehouses as production increases.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eAs we discussed earlier, in the early days Arran was known for releasing a variety of NAS cask finish expressions. One of these was a mostcatel finish released for the German market in 2008, however the casks did such a good job that it would have been a shame to do away with them and they were promptly filled with new make spirit with a view to releasing a small batch of 100% moscatel cask maturation at some point in the future – a serious rarity in \u003ca href=\"\/collections\/scotch\"\u003eScotch\u003c\/a\u003e terms. We’re pleased to say that the future is now and we’re the lucky devils to get our hands on it. Thanks to a very convivial distillery collaboration we’re thrilled to present the first ever batch of 100% moscatel cask matured Arran single malt whisky, created exclusively for The Whisky Club from nine specially selected sister casks, all distilled on the same day in May 2008.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"The Arran Distillery","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":46489906675791,"sku":"WC0081","price":125.0,"currency_code":"AUD","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0722\/1185\/7487\/files\/2008_arran_moscatel_cask_single_malt.png?v=1787700941","url":"https:\/\/thewhiskyclub.com.au\/products\/2008-arran-moscatel-cask-single-malt","provider":"The Whisky Club AU","version":"1.0","type":"link"}