Ballechin 2005 vW (van Wees)

A Ballechin of an 11 year old chosen by the Dutch bottler van Wees, distilled in 2005, from cask 177, bottled at 56.2%, one of 221 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.

It was distilled slowly from peated malt in the old farm stillhouse, building the rich, peated Ballechin style. It was matured in refill ex-Bourbon oak, a soft vanilla beneath the rich spirit. By the integrating teens congeners fade and esters build, the smoke knitting with the rich, oily spirit. Years in oak round the spirit, the dried fruit and chocolate deepening over the oily core. It is one of the smallest traditional distilleries in Scotland, long run by just two or three hands. The cool Highland air of the glen gives a slow, even maturation in the small Edradour warehouses.

At its natural 56.2% it is rich and full bodied. A smoky, oily sweetness, with a soft vanilla from the oak. The texture is oily and smoky, the fruit lifted by vanilla. The close is oily and smoky, fruit over a tarry oak. This is the smoky side of tiny Edradour.