Edradour Oloroso Sherry Butts 12 Years Old 2011 (58.6%)

Edradour from the distillery, a 12 year old, from 2011, cask 505,507/8,510,25-27, at 58.6%, 4517 bottles in all. Edradour is a Highland single malt distilled in a pocket glen near Pitlochry since 1825. The distillery sits in a pocket glen at Balnauld, in the hills above Pitlochry in Perthshire.

It was drawn off the tiny stills and cooled in worm tubs for an oily make, for the rich, oily make Edradour is known for. It was matured in an Oloroso cask, the wood working slowly into the rich malt. Through integration spirit and wood marry, vanillin settling into a rounded vanilla as ethyl esters lend a riper apple and dried fruit. Signatory's wide cask range gives the small distillery an unusual variety of finishes. Ben Vrackie water and a long ferment give the rich Edradour make. The tiny stills and worm tubs give an oily spirit that takes the cask well.

At cask strength 58.6% it is big and oily. Dried fruit, fig and a creamy vanilla, with dried fruit, fig and walnut from the cask. A baked apple and a gentle spice lift it. A long, nutty finish carries dried fruit and a soft spice. This is Edradour, one of Scotland's smallest distilleries.