Ballechin 2009 (Signatory)

A Ballechin of a 9 year old chosen by the Pitlochry bottler Signatory Vintage, distilled in 2009, from cask 340, bottled at 46%, one of 867 bottles. Ballechin is the smoky side of Edradour, a heavily peated malt from Pitlochry. Its peated make, Ballechin, is named after a long extinct peated farm distillery a few miles away.

It was worked through worm tubs from heavily peated malt for a smoky, oily spirit, building the rich, peated Ballechin style. Finished in an Oloroso cask, the wood building over the oily, full bodied spirit. At an extractive age eugenol lends a clove note and lactones a coconut, the peat smoke fierce over the oily make. Active wood frames the rich fruit without overwhelming the oily Highland spirit. Its water comes from the Ben Vrackie springs in the hills above the distillery. Vanillin and oak lactones from the wood lend vanilla and coconut over the fruit.

At 46% it is smooth and rich. Woodsmoke, oily malt and a dried fruit, with dried fruit, fig and walnut from the cask. The mouthfeel is thick and oily, the smoke on a creamy body. A long, smoky finish carries dried fruit and a soft ash. This is the oily, smoky malt of Ballechin.