Arran 19 Years Old 1996 Cask #96/103 (Craigton Packaging Ltd.)

Craigton Packaging Ltd. is a small specialist independent bottler operating with the Mountlaren label and associated branding for single cask single malt releases. The bottler sources individual casks and bottles under the company identity for distribution through European specialist whisky retail. The 96/103 cask reference places this Arran release at a very early cask numbering within the 1996 production year, identifying one of the earliest fillings of the distillery's second full commercial year, with the cask filled in Port wood that drove the unusual cask character.

Spirit was distilled at Lochranza in early 1996 and matured nineteen years in a single Port cask referenced 96/103. Bottled in 2015 at 53.5% without chill filtration and without added colour, with the 289 bottle outturn reflecting the working yield of the single cask after nineteen years.

Nineteen years of Port cask maturation produces deep extraction of the wine residue, with anthocyanins, tannins and the higher alcohol congeners from the fortifying spirit absorbed into the cask wood over the long maturation period. Combined with the underlying Arran spirit signature from the 1996 distillation year, the cask produces a layered red fruit, dark berry and gentle drying tannic profile characteristic of long aged Port cask matured single malt.