Ballechin 2004 (Signatory) (51.7%)

From the Pitlochry bottler Signatory Vintage, a 16 year old Ballechin, distilled in 2004, from cask 32, bottled at 51.7%, one of 263 bottles. Ballechin is a heavily peated Highland single malt made at Edradour near Pitlochry. A 2018 expansion added a second still house, the production still small and traditional.

Run through the small stills, the peat smoke carried into a rich, oily make, for the smoky, oily Ballechin make. It rested in ex-Bourbon oak, oak lactones lending vanilla and a little coconut. At oxidative maturity aldehydes lend a nutty edge and ellagitannins a drying grip, the peat smoke mellowing. The worm tubs leave an oily weight that carries through the years in cask. Long ageing turns the rich make towards dried fruit, fig and a soft spice. Its water comes from the Ben Vrackie springs in the hills above the distillery. Its peated make, Ballechin, is named after a long extinct peated farm distillery a few miles away.

At a hearty 51.7% it carries real weight. A rich smoke over dried fruit and chocolate, with a soft vanilla from the oak. Peat, fig and a creamy malt fill the middle. It finishes long, rich and smoky. This is the oily, smoky malt of Ballechin.