Edradour Ballechin Batch 8

An official release of Ballechin, at 46%, 5100 bottles in all. Ballechin is Edradour's smoky single malt, peated to around fifty parts per million. Under Signatory the range has grown to a wide run of sherry and wine cask bottlings.

It was made from malt peated to around fifty parts per million in the tiny stills, the worm tubs lending weight to the smoke. It was matured in a Sauternes cask, the wood working slowly into the rich malt. Without an age statement, peat smoke leads, vanillin vanilla and a chocolate behind it. A gentle maturation suits the oily make, the nutty richness growing with time. The tiny stills and worm tubs give an oily spirit that takes the cask well. It once supplied blends such as House of Lords and King's Ransom. Ben Vrackie water and a long ferment give the rich Edradour make. Years in oak round the spirit, the dried fruit and chocolate deepening over the oily core.

At 46% it is creamy and full. Peat smoke, dried fruit and a nutty oil, with honeyed apricot and a candied citrus from the cask. Soft ash and a nutty oil sit behind the cask. The close is oily and smoky, fruit over a tarry oak. This is a rich, smoky Highland single malt.