Edradour Ballechin Heavily Peated 10 Year Single Malt Scotch 750ml

This is the core expression of 10-year-old Ballechin single malt Scotch whisky, which is heavily peated whisky from Edradour. It has been named for the silent Ballechin distillery near the Edradour distillery. Releases under the Ballechin name from Edradour were previously presented as part of. The Discovery Series, many of which were matured in different types of casks, including Sherry. Bourbon, and a selection of wine casks. This 10-year-old expression, however, comes from a combination of ex-Oloroso Sherry and ex-bourbon casks.

First released in summer 2014, Ballechin’s 10 years old is the first ongoing release. Edradour’s peated malt, after eight releases in The Discovery series.

The name Ballechin is a homage to a nearby farm distillery of the same name, which produced a peated whisky, which closed in 1927. Modern Ballechin whisky, which was first distilled in 2003, is peated to a minimum level of 50 ppm on the malted barley.

This is quite substantial for a mainland Scotch whisky, only beaten by Benriach’s 55 ppm and Benromach’s 67 ppm that is found in their Peat Smoke expression. So we can expect a nice smoky punch, but presumably without the salty, maritime, and medicinal flavors that you’d expect from the islands.

Nose:

Oily malt, whiffs of burnt ends and BBQ char, a few touches of apple and fig.

Palate:

Chewy dates and oak, with smoldering peat bringing spicy heat to the palate.

Finish:

Long! Still quite peaty to start with, then more creamy vanilla, and the crumbly, vegetal peat taking a step back but sticking around. Then that ashy dry smoke returns, along with a slightly bitter vegetal note and more black pepper. Slightly honeyed fruit note towards the end, along with the peat.