Arran Machrie Moor Fourth Edition

The Machrie Moor Fourth Edition continued the annual numbered Machrie Moor releases that followed the success of the original 2010 First Edition. By the time of this release the Machrie Moor programme was a fixture of the Arran annual calendar, with each edition releasing a fresh vatting of peated stock distilled from the original peated production trials that began in 2004. This Fourth Edition is significant as the final entry at the original 14ppm peating specification before the series moved to 20ppm for the Fifth Edition onwards.

Maturation runs in ex Bourbon American oak casks at Lochranza, with the peated spirit segregated from the unpeated production through dedicated short runs to prevent flavour cross contamination. The Fourth Edition is bottled at 46% with no chill filtration and no added colour, retaining the natural amber tone from the cask maturation.

At 14ppm the phenolic load delivers a distinct but measured peat character driven by guaiacol, methyl guaiacols and cresols carried over from the kilned barley husk. The ex Bourbon cask supplies the underlying vanillin and whisky lactone profile, alongside coconut and toasted sugar notes derived from American oak. The interplay between the peat smoke and the typical Arran fresh fruit ester character is what defined Machrie Moor in its earlier batches before the higher peating level shifted the balance from the Fifth Edition onwards.