Whisky Review: Speyburn Arranta Casks

One of the newer trends in the scotch whisky world is the development of single malts targeted at bourbon drinkers. Often this means malt whisky aged in first-fill ex-bourbon casks to make it sweet and oak-y. Speyburn has joined that crowd with their Arranta Casks expression, which is NAS but boosted to 46% to give it a little more heft than their standard 10 Year.

Thanks to Michael Kravitz for the sample.

Speyburn Arranta Casks (2015)

Nose: bourbon cask caramel, orange peel, mild oak, vanilla, milk chocolate, gently herbal malt. After adding a few drops of water there is more vanilla and some berries come out.

Taste: big malt and cask sweetness up front, then a slow fade out without much obvious character beyond malt, vanilla, and mild oak. After dilution there is more oak, giving it a bittersweet balance throughout.

Finish: slightly musky, berries, vanilla, malt, and mild oak

This is a rather peculiar whisky. I think it largely succeeds at its task of appealing to bourbon drinkers by giving them a relatively simple set of flavors that focus on sweetness and oak. There's nothing offensive, but there also just isn't much going on. At $30-40 it's cheap for a single malt, but relatively expensive compared to a lot of very good bourbons. So while I wouldn't turn down a glass if offered, I can't imagine paying for more with my own money. Time will tell whether it was the right marketing move.