Ballechin 2007 vW (van Wees)

The Dutch bottler van Wees bottled this Ballechin, an 11 year old, distilled in 2007, from cask 165, bottled at 60%, one of 675 bottles. Ballechin is the smoky side of Edradour, a heavily peated malt from Pitlochry. A 2018 expansion added a second still house, the production still small and traditional.

The spirit was distilled from heavily peated malt in tiny copper stills and worm tubs, the worm tubs lending weight to the smoke. It was matured in an Oloroso cask, the wood working slowly into the rich malt. By the integrating teens congeners fade and esters build, the smoke knitting with the rich, oily spirit. Maturation in the dunnage warehouses at Pitlochry is slow and steady. Years in oak round the spirit, the dried fruit and chocolate deepening over the oily core. A gentle maturation suits the oily make, the nutty richness growing with time.

At cask strength 60% it is big and oily. A rich smoke over dried fruit and chocolate, with dried fruit, fig and walnut from the cask. The texture is oily and smoky, the fruit lifted by vanilla. Peat smoke, dried fruit and a soft oak see out a long finish. This is a rich, smoky malt from one of Scotland's smallest distilleries.