Ballechin 2005 (LMDW) (57.2%)

The Paris house La Maison du Whisky bottled this Ballechin, an 11 year old, distilled in 2005, from cask 907, bottled at 57.2%, one of 270 bottles. Ballechin is a rich, smoky Highland single malt from the tiny Edradour distillery. It keeps the old ways, with an open cast iron mash tun, Oregon pine washbacks and worm tub condensers.

Run through the small stills, the peat smoke carried into a rich, oily make, for the smoky, oily Ballechin make. Finished in a Rum cask, the wood building over the oily, full bodied spirit. By the integrating teens congeners fade and esters build, the smoke knitting with the rich, oily spirit. A gentle maturation suits the oily make, the nutty richness growing with time. A small distillery and a hands on approach shape every cask by hand. Its tiny copper stills and worm tubs give a rich, oily, full bodied spirit.

At cask strength 57.2% it is big and oily. Woodsmoke, oily malt and a dried fruit, with a soft brown sugar and a tropical fruit from the cask. The texture is oily and smoky, the fruit lifted by vanilla. A long, smoky finish carries dried fruit and a soft ash. This is Ballechin's heavily peated, oily style.