Edradour Ballechin 2008 Cask #244

Ballechin from the distillery, a 10 year old, from 2008, cask 244, at 60.5%, 434 bottles in all. Ballechin is a heavily peated Highland single malt made at Edradour near Pitlochry. For years its sign read Scotland's smallest distillery; it now calls itself Scotland's little gem.

The spirit was made from malt peated to around fifty parts per million in the tiny stills, for the smoky, oily Ballechin make. A new oak cask lent a bright, spicy oak of clove and vanilla. In integration lactones (coconut) and vanillin (vanilla) join the smoke, the dried fruit deepening beneath. Years in oak round the spirit, the dried fruit and chocolate deepening over the oily core. A rare Morton refrigerator still cools the wort, one of the last in use in Scotland. Its peated make, Ballechin, is named after a long extinct peated farm distillery a few miles away.

At a natural 60.5% it is full and oily. Peat smoke, dried fruit and a nutty oil, with a soft vanilla from the oak. Beneath the smoke run dried fruit, chocolate and a soft oil. A long, smoky finish carries dried fruit and a soft ash. This is Ballechin's heavily peated, oily style.