Arran The Port Cask Finish

The Cask Finishes series at Arran is a presentation tier specifically for the distillery's permanent wine cask finishes, allowing them to be sold and displayed as a complete sub set rather than as individual one off expressions. This Port Cask Finish iteration is the European market presentation under that grouping, distinct from the Cask Finish bottlings released into the global core range. The series approach reflects the distillery's longstanding commitment to wine cask finishing as a defining stylistic thread.

Primary maturation takes place at Lochranza in first fill ex Bourbon American oak barrels, with secondary maturation in casks previously used to age Port wine in the Douro Valley. Port casks are constructed predominantly of Portuguese or French oak and the wine is fortified during fermentation with grape spirit, leaving substantial sugar and ethanol residue in the wood. Bottled at 50% with no chill filtration and no added colour.

The Port cask transfer delivers a saturated load of red wine anthocyanins, tannins and residual grape spirit higher alcohols. The Bourbon underlay supplies the structural vanillin and lactone profile, against which the Port driven berry, plum and gentle drying tannin sit as the dominant finishing layer. The 50% strength preserves the lipid carried mouthfeel that chill filtration would otherwise remove.