Barrel Reserve Single Malt Whisky (700 ml)

When Harold Currie, former Managing Director of Chivas Brothers, revived legal distillation on Arran in 1995 after a 160-year island silence, he made a deliberate transgression: no peat. On an island where maritime smoke was convention, Lochranza was built to produce a clean, fruit-driven malt — a decision that defines Barrel Reserve today.

The distillery sits in Glen Eason Biorach ('Valley of the Sharp Waterfalls') in Arran's granite-dominant north, drawing water from Loch na Davie via the Easan Biorach burn — six cascades through granite that strip minerals and soften the liquor before it ever reaches the mash tun.

The Gulf Stream microclimate accelerates maturation in on-site dunnage and racked warehouses.

Fermentation runs 60–75 hours in six Oregon pine washbacks using Kerry M yeast — an extended window deliberately targeted to develop fruity congeners in the new make. Double distillation through tall-necked, long-lyne-arm copper pot stills (wash stills 7,100

L; spirit stills 4,300–4,800 L, bulb-shaped) with shell-and-tube condensers produces a new make collected at ~68% ABV, matured primarily in ex-bourbon American oak and ex-sherry European oak refill casks.

Bottled at 46% ABV, non-chill filtered, no caramel colouring (E150a) — a standard Arran holds across virtually its entire core range.

The special feature: Barrel Reserve carries no age statement yet refuses the industry shortcut of chill filtration or colour correction, delivering full texture and natural hue.