Ballechin 2013 Horsemen & Archangels (Signatory)

From the Pitlochry bottler Signatory Vintage, a 10 year old Ballechin, distilled in 2013, bottled at 59.9%, one of 1378 bottles. Ballechin is a heavily peated Highland single malt made at Edradour near Pitlochry. The distillery sits in a pocket glen at Balnauld, in the hills above Pitlochry in Perthshire.

It was made from malt peated to around fifty parts per million in the tiny stills, building the rich, peated Ballechin style. It was matured in an Oloroso cask, the wood working slowly into the rich malt. Through integration spirit and wood marry, vanillin settling into vanilla as the peat smoke softens to a mellow, oily reek. The tiny stills and worm tubs give an oily spirit that takes the cask well. It is one of the smallest traditional distilleries in Scotland, long run by just two or three hands. The worm tubs leave an oily weight that carries through the years in cask.

At 59.9%, undiluted, it is deep and concentrated. Soft ash, dried fruit and a creamy malt, with dried fruit, fig and walnut from the cask. A baked apple and a peppery smoke lift it. The close is oily and smoky, fruit over a tarry oak. This is a heavily peated Highland malt from Pitlochry.