Arran 1996 Ch7 (Chapter 7 (Ch7))

Chapter 7 was founded in 2014 by Selim Evin in Switzerland, taking its name from chapter seven of Joseph Conrad's novel Lord Jim. The company has built a reputation on careful cask selection and a presentation style that draws on literary and narrative framing rather than the cask number forward conventions of the older established indies. The Anthology range is Chapter 7's main bottling line, presenting individual casks or small batch vattings under themed narrative arcs. This Arran 1996 sits within that programme drawing on early production year Lochranza stock.

Spirit was distilled at Lochranza in 1996 and matured eighteen years in single cask 879 before being selected by Chapter 7 for the Anthology bottling. The cask wood type follows Chapter 7's selection criteria of identifying casks showing distinctive standalone character. Bottled in 2015 at the natural cask strength of 52.7% without chill filtration and without added colour, with the small 138 bottle outturn reflecting the working yield of the single cask after eighteen years.

1996 vintage Arran spirit carries the second year production house signature of the distillery, with the fresh fruit ester and citric profile that has remained consistent across decades of Arran releases. The cask interaction at the point of bottling reflects the individual cask's wood type, history and storage conditions, with the Chapter 7 presentation focused on letting the specific character of the parcel come through without vatting or finishing manipulation.