Ballechin 2008 (Signatory) (60.1%)

A 12 year old Ballechin from the Pitlochry bottler Signatory Vintage, distilled in 2008, from cask 188, bottled at 60.1%, one of 677 bottles. Ballechin is Edradour's smoky single malt, peated to around fifty parts per million. Its water comes from the Ben Vrackie springs in the hills above the distillery.

Distilled slowly from peated malt in the old farm stillhouse, the worm tubs lending weight to the smoke. An Oloroso cask held it, shaping the oily spirit over the years. In integration lactones (coconut) and vanillin (vanilla) join the smoke, the dried fruit deepening beneath. Maturation in the dunnage warehouses at Pitlochry is slow and steady. Long ageing turns the rich make towards dried fruit, fig and a soft spice. Refill oak lets the rich, oily Edradour character lead the way. A rare Morton refrigerator still cools the wort, one of the last in use in Scotland.

At a natural 60.1% it is full and oily. Peat smoke, fig and a soft chocolate, with dried fruit, fig and walnut from the cask. A baked apple and a peppery smoke lift it. A long, smoky finish carries dried fruit and a soft ash. This is the oily, smoky malt of Ballechin.