Edradour 10 Years Old (43%)

A 10 year old Edradour, a distillery bottling, at 43%. Edradour is a small batch Highland malt, owned by the independent bottler Signatory Vintage. Under Signatory the range has grown to a wide run of sherry and wine cask bottlings.

It was worked through Oregon pine washbacks and tiny stills for a rich, oily spirit, the worm tubs lending a weighty, oily character. It rested in ex-Bourbon oak, oak lactones lending vanilla and a little coconut. Through integration spirit and wood marry, vanillin settling into a rounded vanilla as ethyl esters lend a riper apple and dried fruit. Long ageing turns the rich make towards dried fruit, fig and a soft spice. It is one of the smallest traditional distilleries in Scotland, long run by just two or three hands. Its tiny copper stills and worm tubs give a rich, oily, full bodied spirit. The distillery sits in a pocket glen at Balnauld, in the hills above Pitlochry in Perthshire.

At 43% it is creamy and full. Dried fruit, chocolate and a nutty oil, with a soft vanilla from the oak. A baked apple and a gentle spice lift it. The close is oily and warming, fruit over a gentle oak. This is a rich, oily Highland single malt.