Arran Single Cask 7 Years Old 1996

The Single Cask series at Arran provided the early distillery format for releasing individual casks at relatively young maturation points during the years before the more formalised Limited Edition Single Cask Malt programme structure was established. Cask 96/2072 from the 1996 vintage was filled in the distillery's second commercial year and matured seven years before bottling in 2004 for the German specialist whisky retail trade. The release sits among the earliest commercially available Arran single casks.

Spirit was distilled at Lochranza in 1996 and matured seven years in a single ex Bourbon American oak cask. Bottled in 2004 at the natural cask strength of 57% without chill filtration and without added colour, with the 281 bottle outturn reflecting the working yield of the single hogshead at seven years.

Seven years of ex Bourbon maturation produces early phase cask integration, with the underlying Arran spirit signature from the 1996 new make very forward and the cask supplying its developing layer of vanillin and whisky lactones. At 57% cask strength the full lipid fraction and textural weight of the spirit is preserved, with the young single cask format capturing the documentary character of early Arran production.