Edradour Ballechin 2004 Cask #271 + 273

An 11 year old Ballechin, a distillery bottling, from 2004, cask 271 + 273, at 55.9%, 754 bottles in all. Ballechin is the heavily peated single malt from Edradour, the tiny farm distillery at Pitlochry. Its water comes from the Ben Vrackie springs in the hills above the distillery.

The spirit was worked through worm tubs from heavily peated malt for a smoky, oily spirit, for the smoky, oily Ballechin make. Finished in a Manzanilla cask, the wood building over the oily, full bodied spirit. Integration folds eugenol (clove) and vanillin (vanilla) into the smoky malt, the body fuller and oilier. Active wood frames the rich fruit without overwhelming the oily Highland spirit. A 2018 expansion added a second still house, the production still small and traditional. It is one of the smallest traditional distilleries in Scotland, long run by just two or three hands.

Bottled at a cask strength 55.9%, it is rich. Woodsmoke, oily malt and a dried fruit, with a dry, saline, almond note from the cask. The texture is oily and smoky, the fruit lifted by vanilla. The finish runs long, smoky and warming. This is Ballechin, Edradour's peated single malt.