Origin: Highlands (Scotland)
Type: Single Malt Scotch Whisky
Strength: 46%ABV
Ageing casks: Ex-Bourbon and ex-Sherry oloroso
Chillfiltered: No
Added colouring: No
Owner: Signatory Vintage Scotch Whisky Co. Ltd
Average price: € 60.00
Official website: www.edradour.com
After trying the base malt from the Highlands mini-distillery, here is the peated version, which deserved a different name to distinguish it from the ‘normal’ Edradour.
Ballechin derives from the name of a distillery in Perthshire, closed in 1927, where the well-known Alfred Barnard noted tasting a peated whisky around 1880. Production began in 2003 with the release three years later of the first of eight annual bottlings in the Discovery series, limited to 6,000 bottles, until 2014 when the current 10 year old, at 50ppm, the subject of this article, was released.
Tasting Notes
Arboreal peat on the nose, around burnt brushwood with a handful of herbs in between, intense but not overpowering with the contribution of cinnamon, cloves and coriander. Baked goods intertwine, from plum cake to blackberry cobbler to an idea of sacher torte, with the freshness of orange marmalade lightening the tones. Black tea and tobacco (Caribbean cigar humidor) add further touches of herbal scents. Rich in its simplicity, with a very apt strength: the addition of water only serves to extinguish the sensations.
The vegetal soul of the peat also returns in the drink, with a hint of black pepper adding to the spices, bringing forward a rather lively chinotto and tamarind part, with a dried meat aspect that emerges especially along the length. Salty hints dampen the sweet soul, relegated to the background, while tobacco and black pepper remain pre-eminent. Smoke in crescendo, dense and acrid, still arboreal and aromatic but enriched with burnt wood and undergrowth, including grilled mushrooms.
Medium-long, saline finish of dark citrus, black tea, spices, herbs, nuts and used ashtray.
The agricultural soul of the distillery from which it takes its name permeates the dram, with a distinct personality and perfectly balanced body. A wonderful discovery.
Vote: 86/100