Edradour Ballechin 2005 Cask #377

A 17 year old Ballechin, a distillery bottling, from 2005, cask 377, at 50.4%, 265 bottles in all. Ballechin is Edradour's smoky single malt, peated to around fifty parts per million. Its water comes from the Ben Vrackie springs in the hills above the distillery.

Worked through worm tubs from heavily peated malt for a smoky, oily spirit, the worm tubs lending weight to the smoke. Finished in a Bordeaux cask, the wood building over the oily, full bodied spirit. At oxidative maturity aldehydes lend a nutty edge and ellagitannins a drying grip, the peat smoke mellowing. Years in oak round the spirit, the dried fruit and chocolate deepening over the oily core. Vanillin and oak lactones from the wood lend vanilla and coconut over the fruit. Signatory's wide cask range gives the small distillery an unusual variety of finishes.

At 50.4%, undiluted, it is deep and concentrated. Woodsmoke, oily malt and a dried fruit, with a dark berry and a dry tannin from the cask. A dried fruit and a tarry oak give it depth. Peat smoke, dried fruit and a soft oak see out a long finish. This is a heavily peated Highland malt from Pitlochry.