Arran 13 Years Old 1996 Cask #96/1115 (Whisky for Life)

Whisky for Life is a small German specialist bottler operating under the HEED label for single cask releases. The extremely small 42 bottle outturn at thirteen years is unusual and likely reflects either a particularly active cask with substantial evaporative loss or the bottling of just a portion of a working cask for the specific HEED series release. Cask 96/1115 from the 1996 vintage was bottled in 2010 at the thirteen year point.

Spirit was distilled at Lochranza in 1996 and matured thirteen years in a single Oloroso seasoned cask. Bottled in 2010 at 54.8% without chill filtration and without added colour, with the 42 bottle outturn representing the working volume drawn from the cask for this specific HEED release.

Thirteen years of Oloroso cask maturation produces measured sherry compound integration, with sotolon, furfural and the polyphenol fraction from the original wine ageing developing alongside the underlying Arran spirit signature. The cask wood as European oak contributes its own lactone profile and tannic structure, with the smaller outturn nature of the release preserving the specific intensity of the working cask at the bottling point.