Edradour Ballechin 15 Years Old Cask #Batch 2

An official release of Ballechin, a 15 year old, cask Batch 2, at 58.9%, 3461 bottles in all. Ballechin is the peated expression of Edradour, named after a long lost peated farm distillery nearby. Its peated make, Ballechin, is named after a long extinct peated farm distillery a few miles away.

It was made from malt peated to around fifty parts per million in the tiny stills, building the rich, peated Ballechin style. It was matured in an Oloroso cask, the wood working slowly into the rich malt. Through oxidative maturity esters concentrate, dried fruit and chocolate rising under the oily smoke. The cool Highland air of the glen gives a slow, even maturation in the small Edradour warehouses. A 2018 expansion added a second still house, the production still small and traditional. The tiny stills and worm tubs give an oily spirit that takes the cask well.

Bottled at a cask strength 58.9%, it is rich. Peat, chocolate and a waxy oil, with dried fruit, fig and walnut from the cask. A dried fruit and a tarry oak give it depth. It finishes long, rich and smoky. This is a heavily peated Highland malt from Pitlochry.