Edradour Natural Cask Strength 12 Years Old 2010 (58.3%)

This official Edradour, a 12 year old, from 2010, cask 394, at 58.3%, 640 bottles in all. Edradour is a small, traditional Highland single malt, owned by Signatory since 2002. It was founded in 1825, growing out of an old farmers' cooperative in the glen above Pitlochry.

It was distilled slowly in the old farm stillhouse on Ben Vrackie water, for a full, oily make of dried fruit and chocolate. Finished in an Oloroso cask, the wood building over the oily, full bodied spirit. In integration lactones (coconut) and vanillin (vanilla) knit with the malt, the nutty chocolate deepening. Years in oak round the spirit, the dried fruit and chocolate deepening over the oily core. Its water comes from the Ben Vrackie springs in the hills above the distillery. The cool Highland air of the glen gives a slow, even maturation in the small Edradour warehouses.

At cask strength 58.3% it is big and oily. Dried fruit, chocolate and a nutty oil, with dried fruit, fig and walnut from the cask. A baked apple and a gentle spice lift it. Dried fruit, chocolate and a soft oak see out a long finish. This is Edradour's full bodied, sherried Highland style.