This has been a mult-themed week. All Edradours. All single casks bottled for Spec’s in Texas. All wine casks of one kind or the other. The week got off to a rocky start on Monday with a 10 yo chardonnay cask that had just a bit too much sulphur in it. Wednesday’s 12 yo moscatel cask presented a course correction. Let’s see if we can remain on a positive trajectory with the last cask, which is also a 12 yo distilled in 2010 (and a fairly proximate cask number). I’m a bit nervous as it’s a red wine cask. I don’t have the best history with red wine cask whiskies: I really did not like the last red wine-bothered whisky I reviewed (this Talisker handfill). Let’s give it a go.

Edradour 12, 2010, Super Tuscan Cask (54.6%; cask 93; for Spec’s; from a bottle split) 

Nose: The nutty, beany notes are trying, they’re trying hard, but they’re mostly covered up by the wine. The good news is there’s no eau de cologne, just some red fruit (cherry) and a touch of orange peel. As it sits, some of the nutty/beany complex emerges. With more time still there are softer, sweeter notes of cream and butterscotch. Water brings out more of the citrus—and it’s brighter now; some plum in there too now.

Palate: More oak bite here to start and even less of the Edradour funk than on the nose. Tastes hotter than the billed abv (on account of the oak); decent texture. On the second sip there’s the dried orange peel from the nose and it’s sweeter on the whole. The oak recedes with time. As on the nose, water brings out brighter, sweeter citrus along with plum.

Finish: Medium-long. The oak continues a slow burn to the end. As on the palate with time and water.

Comments: I thought this one took some time to get going—and improved even more with water—but once it did I quite liked it. Not the usual red wine cask winesky; the idiosyncratic Edradour notes come through and are complemented nicely by the fruit. The best of the three this week. Okay, an interesting week but I don’t think I need to do another wine cask Edradour week anytime soon.

Rating: 86 points.