This beautiful apple juice colored island whisky has a spectacular scent with lots of sweet fruit and unmistakably plums at the end. Terribly nice air, very complex and colorful. Tokaji is not, as you would expect, Japanese - it is a village in Hungary in the Tokaj-Hegyalja region where sweet dessert wine comes from. The grapes used have fallen prey to a grape disease, Botrytis Cinerea, also known as Noble Rot, Pourriture Noble, Edelfäule or Muffa Nobile. This fungus causes partial shortening of the grapes. Instead of throwing them away, those moldy grapes, they make dessert wine from all over the world. We whisky lovers especially know the Sauternes - same story, moldy grapes.
Back to this Arran. Great. Very sweet, slightly sharp - 50% would probably have been good too. Nice tobacco and fruit notes, fairly short finish. I am reminded of the Glenmorangie Nectar d'Or - not so strange, that's a sauternes finish. I just compared them. The Nectar is mildly sweet, has a small acidity that creates a nice balance with the sweetness. Citrus, honey, the ususal suspects.
The Arran Tokaji is a bit less middle of the road, it has more pronounced accents. A bit of citrus, slightly dry in the aftertaste. All in all, the Arran is more than excellent and very reasonably priced whisky - if it were still for sale. I'm afraid he will have to raise more than 100 euros at the whisky flea market. And that is just too much again. The Nectar d'Or is 47.50 euros and simply available. I know.