Category Archives: Edradour

Edradour 12, 2010, Super Tuscan Cask (for Spec’s)

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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. Continue reading →

Edradour 12, 2010, Moscatel Cask (for Spec’s)

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This week I’m reviewing single casks of Edradour that were recently bottled for Spec’s in Texas; the further twist is that they’re all wine casks of one kind or the other. The series didn’t get off to the best start on Monday. That 10 yo Chardonnay cask had a little too much sulphur in it even for a non-sulphur-phobe like me. Water rescued it but, on the whole, it was underwhelming. Today’s cask, two years older and filled a year prior, is a moscatel cask. I don’t know that I’ve ever had a moscatel cask Edradour or Ballechin before. Let’s hope it gets the week back on track.

Edradour 12, 2010, Moscatel Cask (53.1%; for Spec’s; cask 88; from a bottle split)

Nose: Starts out nutty, beany and yeasty, just like the chardonnay cask. Some roasted malt on the second sniff and then a big wave of citrus (lime peel) and chalk. Spicier here too with time even as some sweeter fruit is teased—let’s see if water brings it out. No, not really; in fact, it washes it out. Continue reading →

Edradour 10, 2011, Chardonnay Cask (for Spec’s)

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Okay, having done a week of blended malts/whiskies from Compass Box (here, here and here), let’s do a week of single malts. This week’s whiskies are all from Edradour, they were all bottled for Spec’s in Texas, and they’re all wine casks of one kind or the other. Edradour—the tiny highlands distillery owned by Signatory—have a history of wine cask releases; both for the mainline malt, and for the peated variant, Ballechin. The base spirit is an idiosyncratic one and it’s probably fair to say that Edradour in general is more a cult distillery than a crowd-pleaser, and also that the cult is not very large. I myself have historically preferred the heavily peated stylings of the Ballechin variant to mainline Edradour—just as I prefer the heavily peated Ledaig to that distillery’s also idiosyncratic mainline malt, Tobermory. And whether it’s Ledaig/Tobermory or Ballechin/Edradour, I generally prefer sherry casks to ex-bourbon. Well, none of this week’s casks of Edradour for Spec’s are sherry casks. First up, is a chardonnay cask. It was bottled at an eye-watering strength; which is, I suppose, another hallmark of the distillery’s single cask program. Anyway, let’s see what it’s like. Continue reading →

Edradour 10, 2012 (for Spec’s)

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Highlands week began at Ben Nevis on Monday. It continues a little further east and south at Edradour. I had reviewed three Edradours in June of this year: two with sherry involvement (here and here) and one with marsala involvement (here). Today’s cask is a single oloroso sherry cask that was bottled for Spec’s in Texas. Let’s see what it’s like.

Edradour 10, 2012 (57.6%; for Spec’s; oloroso cask #2; from a bottle split)

Nose: Raisins, cola concentrate, roasted malt and that very Edradour nutty/beany complex. More of the roasted malt and the nuts with time. Water brings out some earthy notes but otherwise it’s pretty consistent

Palate: Comes in as predicted by the nose but sweeter. Approachable at full strength; good texture. Quite consistent as it sits; a little more salt maybe. With more time it gets a bit spicy—some pepper, some oak grip. Water emphasizes the spice, pulls out a bit of dried orange peel and pushes the sweeter notes back. Continue reading →

Ballechin 10, 2010, Marsala Cask

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Let’s keep the Edradour train going a little bit longer. This week will be a week of wine-bothered peated whiskies but we’ll begin with a Ballechin—which, as you know, is the name of the peated variant of Edradour. A slightly dangerous start to the week: I really did not like the first Edradour last week and that was from a marsala cask; well, this Ballechin is also from a marsala cask. Let’s hope for the best.

Ballechin 10, 2010, Marsala Cask (59.1%; from a bottle split)

Nose: Sweet, slightly rubbery peat off the top. The rubber is in the vein of gaskets on old medicine bottles. The peat gets more vegetal/organic on the second sniff: a damp, mossy log behind which some small furry creature is rotting. As it sits a fair bit of ash comes through the smells of  damp rot and there’s some fruit behind it too (orange peel, a bit of plum); some charred meat as well. With more time the peat wallop softens a bit; the salt is more palpable here too now. Mellower still with a squirt of water; still a lot of smoke but the organic/vegetal notes are gone; the salt and the citrus come to the fore too now. Continue reading →

Edradour 2000-2016 (for Tiger’s Finest Selection)

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Edradour week began very unpromisingly on Monday with a single marsala cask bottled by a Taiwanese outfit named Or Sileis. It moved all the way up to middling on Wednesday with the 2019 release of the official Caledonia Selection. Which way will things go with today’s closer? Oh shit, did I mention this was a Taiwanese bottling as well? Can you feel the dramatic tension? This is the oldest of the trio at 15 or 16 years of age, and is from a single sherry cask. In case you’re wondering about the name, it refers to Tiger Huang, who is apparently “a famous whisky industry practitioner in Taiwan“. Is Tiger his real name or a nickname? Why can’t a nickname be a real name? What is this, an interrogation? Why haven’t you mentioned that there’s also a Taiwanese pop singer named Tiger Huang? Did she have something to do with this? And how about the “strategy and transformation leader” ex of McKinsey? How the hell are there so many people named Tiger Huang? What exactly is going on here? Continue reading →

Edradour 12 “Caledonia Selection”, 2019 Release

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This week of Edradour reviews got off to a very shaky start—putting it mildly—with Monday’s marsala cask for the Taiwanese bottler, Or Sileis. I am hoping there will be a major course correction with today’s whisky, which is the 2019 release of the official 12 yo Caledonia Selection. There’s an interesting story about why it’s called Caledonia Selection, but I can’t remember what it is and am too sleepy now to look it up. If you know, or can be arsed to look it up, please write in below. What I can tell you is that it is double matured in bourbon and oloroso sherry casks. You’re welcome. Now, let’s see what it’s like.

Edradour 12 “Caledonia Selection”, 2019 Release (46%; double matured in bourbon and oloroso sherry casks; from a bottle split)

Nose: Now, these sherry casks have not covered up the idiosyncratic Edradour character: that beany, slighly rubbery thing (gaskets on old medicine bottles) is the main note alongside the sweet sherry notes of raisins and orange peel. A few drops of water and it mostly feels a little flatter; a bit of toffee maybe. Continue reading →

Edradour 2011-2020 (for Or Sileis)

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It has been almost two years since I last reviewed any Edradour. Well, that’s not, strictly speaking, true: I have reviewed a number of Ballechins in the intervening period. (Ballechin, as you doubtless know, is the name of the peated variant of Edradour.) But it’s been a while since I’ve reviewed the distillery’s namesake brand; and so, let’s do a whole week of Edradour. First up is a somewhat obscure release. This is a first-fill marsala hogshead put out by a Taiwanese independent bottler named Or Sileis. Now, I enjoyed the old Ballechin #5 Marsala Cask back in the day; but it is also true that I generally like wine cask whiskies more when peat is involved. Peat is not involved here. Is that bad news? I’m not sure, by the way, whether this was a full-term maturation in the marsala hogshead or if it was finished in it for a period of months or years. The confusing thing is that the cask is said to have yielded 403 bottles, which is a lot for a hogshead bottled at cask strength. If you know more about this, please do write in below. Continue reading →

Ballechin 10, 2010 (Signatory)

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This week of reviews of peated whiskies began on Monday with an indie Port Charlotte that is said to have some sherry involvement. It continued on Wednesday with the 2018 release of the official Ledaig 10 that may or may not have sherry casks in the vatting. Here to close out the week is another indie that is unambiguously sherried. Indeed it’s from a single sherry butt and a first-fill butt at that. It’s a 10 yo Ballechin—or peated Edradour—from Signatory, who’ve bottled a number of sherried Ballechins of this general age in the last few years. I’ve liked the ones I’ve tried and so have high hopes for this one. Let’s see if they’re borne out.

It just struck me, by the way, that this week ended up having a secondary theme: not only were these all peated whiskies but they’re all the heavily peated variants from distilleries that are at least nominally known for unpeated/lightly peated malt. Continue reading →

Ballechin 15, 2005, Second-Fill Sherry (WhiskySponge)

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Three Ballechins bottled by Whisky Sponge to start the month and year, I said. On Monday I reviewed a 17 yo distilled in 2004 and matured in a first-fill bourbon barrel. On Wednesday another 17 yo from 2004, this time matured in a refill fino butt. Here now to close the week is another sherry cask but this one was distilled a year later and is two years younger. It’s from a second-fill sherry hogshead—what kind of sherry does not appear to have been specified in this case.

As I said on Monday, I only recently learned that Angus MacRaild (the Whisky Sponge) was bottling whisky. I don’t know what reputation his releases have at this point or where they fall price-wise in the market. I will say that I liked the other two fine but did not find them to be anything particularly extraordinary. Will this one be a departure in either direction? Let’s see. Continue reading →

Ballechin 17, 2004, Refill Fino (WhiskySponge)

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Here is the second of three reviews of single casks of Ballechin—or peated Edradour—released recently by Whisky Sponge. See here for a review of the first cask (a first-fill bourbon barrel) and read the comments on that post for some discussion of the ethical issues that these releases raise. If you have any thoughts about any of that please add them to the comments on that first review so it all stays in one place.

Ballechin 17, 2004 (55.5%; WhiskySponge; Edition 36B; Refill Fino Sherry Butt; from a bottle split)

Nose: Dry, farmy peat with some sweet notes around the edges of the smoke. Gets more organic and vegetal as it sits—definitely something rotting in the undergrowth in the middle distance, the aroma being wafted over on a briny, sea breeze (yes, I know where Edradour is located). Water softens the whole up: the farmy peat abates and there’s a touch of vanilla now. The salt expands again with time. Continue reading →

Ballechin 17, 2004, First-Fill Bourbon (WhiskySponge)

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Back in the middle of 2020 I posted reviews of a trio of whiskies from Edradour. Let’s begin 2021 with reviews of a trio that bear the name Ballechin, aka peated Edradour. Until that trio of Edradours in mid-2020 I had actually only ever reviewed Ballechins from the distillery. And with only one exception—this Signatory release—I had only reviewed official releases, including a number of the cask variations (port, oloroso, marsala, madeira) released during the spirit’s initial march to the first 10 yo release. Since then a number of older Ballechins have hit the market from various indie bottlers. Which leads us to this trio which represents the oldest Ballechins I have yet tried. This trio, furthermore, has been bottled by WhiskySponge, the outfit that bears the nickname of its proprietor, Angus MacRaild. The Whisky Sponge first became known to the general populace via the excellent eponymous blog that lampooned the excesses of the industry—and occasionally published more serious commentary as well. Somewhere along the line Angus M. seems to have become an indie bottler himself—more evidence that I really am out of touch with malt whisky developments is that I only noted this relatively recently. He also became a contributing writer on Serge Valentin’s Whiskyfun a few years ago. Now Angus seems to be an upstanding type but I have to confess I find a little messy the situation of one independent bottler regularly reviewing releases from his competition on what is undoubtedly the most influential whisky buying guide around—especially for indie releases. Continue reading →

Edradour 10, 2009

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Edradour Week comes to a close with another 10 yo from an oloroso sherry cask. But this is completely different from Monday and Wednesday’s 10 yo and 11 yo oloroso sherry casks, you see, as it was distilled in the year in between and not bottled for Specs. All kidding aside, I don’t really expect this to be very different from the other two. Which is not to say that Monday’s 11 yo and Wednesday’s 10 yo were identical: between the slight variations and Edradour’s idiosyncratic qualities it should at least be interesting to track the profile across another cask.

Edradour 10, 2009 (55.8%; oloroso sherry cask #2; from a bottle split)

Nose: Clearly a sibling of the other two but the nutty/beany thing is in far greater evidence here off the top. Below that is the usual oloroso complex of raisins and citrus peel. On the second sniff there’s quite a bit of oak. As it sits the oak recedes and the fruit begins to come through more fully: a lot of dried orange peel and some apricot and not as much red fruit as in Wednesday’s 10 yo. A few drops of water bring out some dry notes along with some salt and earth. Continue reading →

Edradour 10, 2010 (for Specs)

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Edradour Week began on Monday with an 11 yo distilled in 2008 and bottled in 2020 for Specs in Texas. Here today is a 10 yo distilled in 2010 and bottled in 2020 for Specs in Texas. Like Monday’s whisky (and also Friday’s) it is from a single oloroso sherry cask. I quite liked Monday’s 11 yo and am curious to see how much variation, if any, there will be in this one. My suspicion is there will not be a lot of variation as there tends to be a reversion to a heavy oloroso mean in young whiskies. But the proof is in the glass. Let’s get to it.

Edradour 10, 2010 (57.4%; oloroso cask 115 for Specs; from a bottle split)

Nose: Very similar to Monday’s 11 yo except with less of the nuts and ginger. Instead, more red fruit; the old-timey medicine bottle rubber gaskets/stoppers are here too though. Saltier as it sits and the fruit gets richer as well, with apricot and some orange peel joining the red fruit. As with the other, more malt here with time but the fruit is in the lead. Water softens it further and brings out more malt along with a fair bit of vanilla cream. Continue reading →

Edradour 11, 2008 (for Specs)

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I recently realized that all the Edradours I have yet reviewed on the blog have been Ballechins—Ballechin, as I’m sure you know, is the name of the peated variant of Edradour, much like the Ledaig/Tobermory split at Tobermory. If you don’t know the distillery, it’s in the highlands, is owned by the same people who own the indie outfit, Signatory, and is one of the smallest distilleries in Scotland. I’ve now driven more or less past it twice on two trips to Scotland—perhaps if I ever get back there I will finally stop in. Anyway, I do like a good Ballechin but it’s time to start bringing some balance to this picture. Accordingly, this week will feature three Edradours. They are all of similar age—10-11 years old—and all have been matured in single oloroso casks. First up is the oldest of the lot in terms of both length of maturation and of vintage, if only by the slightest of margins. This 11 yo was distilled in 2008 and bottled in 2020 for Specs, the large Texas spirits retailer. Way back in the golden age of single malt whisky in the US, when shipping between states was not an impossible or very expensive venture, I purchased a fair bit of old whisky from Specs. I don’t expect that this store selection of a young sherry cask Edradour will quite reach the heights of those ancient Caperdonichs and Banffs and the like but I’ll be happy enough even if it’s just a very good whisky. Let’s see how it goes. Continue reading →

Ballechin 12, 2005 (Signatory for the Whisky Barrel)

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Back again to the combo of big sherry and big peat. This Ballechin was/is an exclusive for the Whisky Barrel. It was bottled by Signatory and as Signatory owns Edradour—whose peated malt Ballechin is—it seemed a pretty good bet that this would be a good cask. Also relevant: I quite liked the old limited edition Ballechin 4 which was from oloroso casks (or finished in oloroso casks, I can’t remember). I got this sample as part of a bottle split and indeed liked it so much (spoiler alert) that I purchased a couple of bottles. I was surprised to see later that Serge didn’t rate it very highly. This may explain why this is still available from the Whisky Barrel. I think it’s one that requires some time and then water to reveal all its charms. Anyway, I do recommend it highly, especially if you like that combo of big sherry and big peat.

Continue reading →

Ballechin 13, 2003

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This is a distillery-only Ballechin—which is to say it is/was only available at the Edradour distillery (whose peated malt is called Ballechin, as you doubtless know). No, I did not pick it up while driving through the highlands last June. We did go very near Edradour on our way to Blair Castle but Tomatin was the only distillery in that part of the country that we stopped at, and that only for a little while. No, this is a sample from a bottle that the redoubtable Michael K. purchased at the distillery in 2016. Me, I didn’t even know that Edradour had bottled any Ballechin of this age. All I’ve had are most of the various younger, wine cask releases of yesteryear and the 10 yo that was released in 2014. Michael said in his review last year that he liked this very much at the distillery but not as much later. As you will see below, I liked it quite a bit now. I did also like the Ballechin #3, Port Cask—there seems to be something about the marriage of their peated malt and port casks that works well. Anyway, here are my notes.  Continue reading →

Ballechin #2, Madeira

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Ballechin 2

After a week of 20+ yo whiskies and a week of 10 yo whiskies, might as well give this week a theme too: wine cask whiskies. Yesterday I had the Springbank 12, Claret Wood, and here now is Edradour’s second release of their limited edition peated line, matured in Madeira casks (I’ve previously reviewed #3, #4 and #5 and last week reviewed the brand new regular release 10 yo).

I think the only other Madeira cask whiskies I’ve had have been from Springbank and I liked both of those a fair bit (see here for the 14 yo K&L put out a couple of years ago; I guess I never got around to reviewing the 11 yo that I liked even more; hmmm I think I might have a large’ish sample saved from that one). And I’ve also liked all of these Ballechins. A good omen? Let’s see.

This sample, like that of the Ballechin 10, came from Florin (the junior senator from Indiana). I introduced Florin to the Ballechin series via a sample swap a while ago and now he’s like some goddamned evangelist for the line, won’t shut up about it. That said, I can’t recall what he thinks of this one. Continue reading →