For my review of the new Cask Strength Machrie Moor, please see below… but first, let’s catch up on the PR info…

Arran Distillers is launching the latest in its Machrie Moor peated whisky collection, which includes the first ever cask strength version of the limited edition Single Malt.

The Machrie Moor Single Malt first appeared five years ago, inspired by the legend of a warrior giant who tethered his dog to a stone in a mystical peat bog called Machrie Moor which lies on the west coast of the Isle of Arran.

This September the fifth edition of Machrie Moor – the only peated Arran malt – will be released worldwide, alongside a cask strength edition which has been bottled at 58.4%. Both single malts are limited edition and highly anticipated because of their unique flavour.

Only 12,000 bottles of Machrie Moor Fifth Edition and just 6,000 bottles of the first edition cask strength Machrie Moor will be available when they go on sale on October 6th.

Machrie Moor – The Peated Arran Malt (46% abv) has an RRP of £41.99 while Machrie Moor Cask Strength Single Malt (58.4%) has an RRP of £49.99. Both are available from www.arranwhisky.com and specialist whisky shops.

Now on to my review…

Machrie Moor Cask Strength – 58.4%

Info: Peated to 20ppm. Non-chill filtered, natural coloured. 6000 bottles worldwide.
Colour: Light straw, very natural.
Nose: Strong with alcohol, so nose gently! There’s rich caramel smoke tones, possibly slightly closed by the high alcohol level, a drop of water may bring out more. Given some time out comes some gentle oak tones along with warm spiced caramel pineapple and some citrus notes (limes).
Palate: It starts much smoother than you might think for something so strong, it builds to something quite hot but then tones back down again. It’s really thick and creamy on your palate with sweet gentle smoke peat flavours. It nicely sweet with those pineapple and citrus notes playing in the background along with slight cask char.
Finish: The peat is more evident here rather than the smoke, which is there too.
Water: It’s surprisingly easy without water. With water a milk chocolate note comes out on the nose to join the other flavours noted above. It makes the palate much easier with those thick caramel notes still coming through nicely. The finish is more smoky, almost fizzy.
Thoughts: I must confess this is my first Machrie Moor, and to come directly to the Cask Strength version is a treat… I expected it to be good, but it’s far better than I expected. A very tasty dram, the peat smoke works excellently with the Arran spirit!

Thanks to Arran for the sample.