Arran 18 Years Old 1997 Cask #97/741 (Duncan Taylor)

Duncan Taylor was founded in 1938 as a cask broker and trader, acquiring stocks of Scotch whisky from distillers and holding them in maturation for resale to blenders and bottlers. The company moved into single cask bottling in 2002 under the leadership of Euan Shand, who acquired Duncan Taylor that year and shifted its commercial focus toward independent bottling. The Dimensions series is the company's flagship single cask range, presented at natural cask strength with no chill filtration and no added colouring. The 97/741 cask reference identifies this Arran release within the Duncan Taylor cask numbering for 1997 vintage stock.

Spirit was distilled at Lochranza in 1997 and matured eighteen years in a single cask held in Duncan Taylor's working inventory. The cask wood type is consistent with the Dimensions template of refill American oak hogsheads or first fill barrels selected for distinctive standalone character. Bottled at natural cask strength without chill filtration and without added colour.

Eighteen years of single cask maturation in refill Bourbon wood produces an integrated profile where the Arran spirit signature and the cask derived compounds sit in measured balance. The cask supplies vanillin, whisky lactones and the toasted sugar layer from American oak, while the underlying Arran citric and stone fruit ester load remains visible underneath. Full cask strength bottling preserves the maximum lipid fraction and textural weight of the spirit.