Edradour Ballechin 2009 Cask #346

A 12 year old Ballechin, a distillery bottling, from 2009, cask 346, at 58.4%, 951 bottles in all. Ballechin is the peated expression of Edradour, named after a long lost peated farm distillery nearby. Ballechin was first distilled in 2003, the malt peated to around fifty parts per million.

Run through the small stills, the peat smoke carried into a rich, oily make, the worm tubs lending weight to the smoke. Finished in an Oloroso cask, the wood building over the oily, full bodied spirit. Through integration spirit and wood marry, vanillin settling into vanilla as the peat smoke softens to a mellow, oily reek. Long ageing turns the rich make towards dried fruit, fig and a soft spice. The full bodied spirit shows the cask clearly, the sherry and oak to the fore. It is one of the smallest traditional distilleries in Scotland, long run by just two or three hands.

At a natural 58.4% it is full and oily. A smoky, oily sweetness, with dried fruit, fig and walnut from the cask. Beneath the smoke run dried fruit, chocolate and a soft oil. A rich finish ends on soft ash and dried fruit. This is Ballechin's heavily peated, oily style.