Edradour Ballechin 2007 Cask #1

A 13 year old Ballechin, a distillery bottling, from 2007, cask 1, at 59.9%, 415 bottles in all. Ballechin is Edradour's heavily peated malt, smoke laid over a rich, oily Highland spirit. A 2018 expansion added a second still house, the production still small and traditional.

Distilled slowly from peated malt in the old farm stillhouse, for the smoky, oily Ballechin make. An ex-Bourbon barrel shaped it, vanillin lending vanilla under the fruit. Through integration spirit and wood marry, vanillin settling into vanilla as the peat smoke softens to a mellow, oily reek. Signatory's wide cask range gives the small distillery an unusual variety of finishes. It is one of the smallest traditional distilleries in Scotland, long run by just two or three hands. Vanillin and oak lactones from the wood lend vanilla and coconut over the fruit. Maturation in the dunnage warehouses at Pitlochry is slow and steady.

At a hearty 59.9% it carries real weight. A smoky, fruity richness, with a soft vanilla from the oak. It is rich and smoky, the oily spirit shining through. The close is oily and smoky, fruit over a tarry oak. This is a heavily peated Highland malt from Pitlochry.