Edradour Ballechin 2008 Cask #123 + 293, 294, 295

Ballechin from the distillery, an 8 year old, from 2008, cask 123 + 293, 294, 295, at 46%. Ballechin is Edradour's heavily peated malt, smoke laid over a rich, oily Highland spirit. It once supplied blends such as House of Lords and King's Ransom.

Drawn off the tiny stills and cooled in worm tubs, smoke over an oily spirit, for the smoky, oily Ballechin make. Finished in an Oloroso cask, the wood building over the oily, full bodied spirit. Young and extractive, the cask sheds vanillin (vanilla) and toasted sugars (caramel) beneath the heavy smoke. Maturation in the dunnage warehouses at Pitlochry is slow and steady. Ben Vrackie water and a long ferment give the rich Edradour make. Under Signatory the range has grown to a wide run of sherry and wine cask bottlings. The worm tubs leave an oily weight that carries through the years in cask. Active wood frames the rich fruit without overwhelming the oily Highland spirit.

Reduced to 46%, it is mellow. Peat smoke, fig and a soft chocolate, with dried fruit, fig and walnut from the cask. The texture is oily and smoky, the fruit lifted by vanilla. The finish is rounded, smoky and gently spiced. This is the oily, smoky malt of Ballechin.