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An Arrival review
An Arrival review
Back in September 2022, I did a small Scotland trip with some friends.
And when we were in Edinburgh, we visited the Holyrood distillery for a tour.
Back then, we were notified that no whisky could be tasted yet, so we had to do with new make. Which was a fun tasting!
I truly enjoyed that afternoon in Edinburgh, in the large building that housed a brewery once, learning and having fun with friends.
(Fun fact, did you know the shape of the bottle is a quiet reminder of the brewery? So basically a beer bottle?)
When we walked away in search of dinner, I poked Drambuddie Michiel and told him I would try to get the first whisky edition that they would bring out.
Little over a year later, Arrival was bottled. And I did my very best to get a bottle. I even had direct contact with some Scottish stores but I missed out. Either because it was out of stock, or when it was in stock, due to not shipping to the EU mainland. (You got to love Brexit.)
Years later, we are talking spring 2025, Drambuddie Martijn popped in for a visit and presented me and my wife with a bottle of Arrival. Because we were expecting an arrival ourselves. I was over the moon, but had to wait for the actual arrival of our newborn before I could open it.
So, mid May, our daughter arrived. And it was time to open this bottle.
(Next to another that had been waiting for exactly this occasion.)
And I have to be honest, I had some doubts opening this one, since I had been looking for it for a while. BUT HEY! YOLO!
The whisky was bottled at 46,1%. When pouring the first dram, my wife described the colour as that of the warm, flickering hue of an oil lamp. And that is just spot on. It has the amber tones and a warmer orange tint as a sort of glow on it.
On the nose I get some orange citrus mixed with honey and a feint hint of crushed basil in the back. Returning to it brings a layer that reminds us of smelling a rose flower. Now, this is where the help of my wife ended, since she loves to look at it and help me nose the drams, she does not like to taste it.
So on the palate: When the liquid flows over the tongue, I immediately get a slight tingly feeling which is followed up by sweet rum like notes. Sweet is the best theme that covers the flavours that pop up after the first rush: Candied apples, toffee, fudge, chocolate biscuits and some light toasted cane sugar.
It has a medium long finish, that feels like the orange returns with some freshly baked cake and dried apples.
Thank you Martijn, for gifting us this bottle. We love it.
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