Edradour Ballechin 2004 Cask #347

A 20 year old Ballechin, a distillery bottling, from 2004, cask 347, at 54.7%, 691 bottles in all. Ballechin is a peated Highland single malt from Edradour, owned by Signatory Vintage. Ballechin was first distilled in 2003, the malt peated to around fifty parts per million.

The spirit was made from malt peated to around fifty parts per million in the tiny stills, for a smoky, oily make of peat and dried fruit. A Port cask held it, shaping the oily spirit over the years. Through oxidative maturity esters concentrate, dried fruit and chocolate rising under the oily smoke. Vanillin and oak lactones from the wood lend vanilla and coconut over the fruit. Long ageing turns the rich make towards dried fruit, fig and a soft spice. The distillery sits in a pocket glen at Balnauld, in the hills above Pitlochry in Perthshire. A small distillery and a hands on approach shape every cask by hand.

Bottled at a cask strength 54.7%, it is rich. Woodsmoke, oily malt and a dried fruit, with red berry, plum and a dry spice from the cask. A baked apple and a peppery smoke lift it. A long, smoky finish carries dried fruit and a soft ash. This is Ballechin's heavily peated, oily style.