Edradour Ballechin 2010 Cask #339

A 10 year old Ballechin, a distillery bottling, from 2010, cask 339, at 52.7%, 322 bottles in all. Ballechin is a heavily peated Highland single malt made at Edradour near Pitlochry. Ballechin was first distilled in 2003, the malt peated to around fifty parts per million.

It was distilled from heavily peated malt in tiny copper stills and worm tubs, for a heavy, smoky spirit with an oily depth. It was matured in refill ex-Bourbon oak, a soft vanilla beneath the rich spirit. In integration lactones (coconut) and vanillin (vanilla) join the smoke, the dried fruit deepening beneath. The tiny stills and worm tubs give an oily spirit that takes the cask well. Its peated make, Ballechin, is named after a long extinct peated farm distillery a few miles away. Vanillin and oak lactones from the wood lend vanilla and coconut over the fruit. Under Signatory the range has grown to a wide run of sherry and wine cask bottlings.

Bottled at a cask strength 52.7%, it is rich. A smoky, fruity richness, with a soft vanilla from the oak. Soft ash and a nutty oil sit behind the cask. The close is oily and smoky, fruit over a tarry oak. This is a rich, smoky Highland single malt.