Edradour Ballechin 2010

An official release of Ballechin, a 10 year old, from 2010, cask 201, at 60.1%, 893 bottles in all. Ballechin is the smoky side of Edradour, a heavily peated malt from Pitlochry. It keeps the old ways, with an open cast iron mash tun, Oregon pine washbacks and worm tub condensers.

The spirit was distilled from heavily peated malt in tiny copper stills and worm tubs, the worm tubs lending weight to the smoke. Maturation came in an Oloroso cask, layered over the rich Edradour make. Integration folds eugenol (clove) and vanillin (vanilla) into the smoky malt, the body fuller and oilier. Maturation in the dunnage warehouses at Pitlochry is slow and steady. Vanillin and oak lactones from the wood lend vanilla and coconut over the fruit. A gentle maturation suits the oily make, the nutty richness growing with time. It was founded in 1825, growing out of an old farmers' cooperative in the glen above Pitlochry.

At a hearty 60.1% it carries real weight. Woodsmoke, oily malt and a dried fruit, with dried fruit, fig and walnut from the cask. Peat, fig and a creamy malt fill the middle. It finishes long, rich and smoky. This is a peated Highland single malt of real weight.