Lochranza is one of those pleasingly improbable modern distilleries that feels, in spirit at least, rather older than it is. When production began in 1995, it restored legal whisky-making to Arran after a silence of roughly a century and a half, a feat driven largely by Harold Currie, formerly of Chivas Brothers, and funded in part through an admirably eccentric Founder’s Bond scheme. Even the construction had a touch of Highland theatre about it, being briefly interrupted by nesting golden eagles, which rather set the tone for a distillery whose fortunes have always seemed tied to the island’s landscape and temperament.

Its setting in the north of Arran does much to explain the whisky’s character. Lochranza itself sits in a sheltered pocket of the island, framed by hills and close to the sea, with water drawn from Loch na Davie. Arran is often lazily called “Scotland in miniature”, but here the phrase feels earned: crag, coast, greenery, weather, all compressed into a place small enough to make the distillery seem part of the scenery rather than imposed upon it. The whisky that emerged from this setting became known simply as Arran, and over time Lochranza developed a reputation for a style that is bright, fruity, and elegant, often showing orchard fruit, malt sweetness, and a softly waxy texture rather than brute force.

Production has generally favoured clarity over heaviness. The distillery runs two wash stills and two spirit stills, and much of the maturation has leaned on ex-bourbon casks, with sherry wood used to add breadth where required. Peated whisky did appear later through Machrie Moor, though this was more a variation on the house’s capabilities than a rejection of its core style. Since the opening of Lagg in the south, Lochranza has been more clearly defined as Arran’s unpeated, classically fruity northern voice, which suits it very well indeed.