Edradour Straight from the Cask 10 Years Old 2011 (56.9%)

Edradour from the distillery, a 10 year old, from 2011, cask 238, at 56.9%, 917 bottles in all. Edradour is a small batch Highland malt, owned by the independent bottler Signatory Vintage. It once supplied blends such as House of Lords and King's Ransom.

The spirit was run through the small stills with their boil ball purifiers, for a full, oily make of dried fruit and chocolate. An Oloroso cask held it, shaping the oily spirit over the years. In integration lactones (coconut) and vanillin (vanilla) knit with the malt, the nutty chocolate deepening. The cool Highland air of the glen gives a slow, even maturation in the small Edradour warehouses. The distillery sits in a pocket glen at Balnauld, in the hills above Pitlochry in Perthshire. It is one of the smallest traditional distilleries in Scotland, long run by just two or three hands. A small distillery and a hands on approach shape every cask by hand.

At a natural 56.9% it is full and oily. Dried fruit, fig and a creamy vanilla, with dried fruit, fig and walnut from the cask. Soft chocolate and a nutty oil sit behind the cask. The finish is long, oily and gently spiced. This is the oily, rich malt of tiny Edradour.