Edradour Ballechin 2011 Cask #335

An official release of Ballechin, a 9 year old, from 2011, cask 335, at 58.2%, 236 bottles in all. Ballechin is Edradour's heavily peated malt, smoke laid over a rich, oily Highland spirit. It keeps the old ways, with an open cast iron mash tun, Oregon pine washbacks and worm tub condensers.

Made from malt peated to around fifty parts per million in the tiny stills, the worm tubs lending weight to the smoke. First fill bourbon gave a fuller vanilla and a touch of coconut from the lactones. In these extractive early years the oak gives vanillin (vanilla) and lactones (coconut) under a bright, ashy peat smoke. Ben Vrackie water and a long ferment give the rich Edradour make. Ballechin was first distilled in 2003, the malt peated to around fifty parts per million. Long ageing turns the rich make towards dried fruit, fig and a soft spice.

At 58.2%, undiluted, it is deep and concentrated. Soft ash, dried fruit and a creamy malt, with a soft vanilla from the oak. The texture is oily and smoky, the fruit lifted by vanilla. Peat smoke, dried fruit and a soft oak see out a long finish. This is Ballechin's heavily peated, oily style.