Edradour Ballechin Discovery Series #3 - "The Port Casks" (NAS)

 

When Edradour - the smallest operating distillery in Scotland - peats their spirit, they release it under the label Ballechin, honoring a long-dead distillery of the same name that operated from 1810 to 1927. The original Ballechin was one of the original seven distilleries in Perthshire, Scotland - now, only Edradour is left. 

They only started this heavily peated project in 2003, and this bottle is their third official release, from 2008. It's aged an unknown number of years, matured fully in port casks, bottled without coloration or filtering at 46% ABV. One of only 6000 bottles. 

Edradour 11 Year Cask Strength

 

Picture credit to Potomac Wines  - get a load of the color!! It's like blackstrap rum. 

I'm a big Edradour fan, going way back - it was maybe the first sherry-matured Scotch I ever had, back in 2013/2014. Over the intervening years I've had most of the major variations on it - but never a cask strength version. Many, many thanks to Rob Martin for saving me the last few drams from this bottle of cask strength 11 year!

Edradour Caledonia 12 Year

 

Edradour 12 Year is nicknamed "Caledonia" after a song by Scotsman Dougie MacLean, who helped select the whisky from the Edradour casks as well.  Matured in ex-bourbon casks for 7-8 years and then transferred to ex-Oloroso casks for the last 4-5 years, it's bottled at 46% ABV with no chill-filtration or coloring. Let's see what Scotland's smallest distillery can do with two extra years in the cask. 

Edradour 10 Year (2020 botting, 43%)

 

I haven't had an original bottling of Edradour in a long time, which seems impossible, but it's true. My old review is from 7 years ago, and is bottled at a thinner 40% (boo). This bottle of 10 Year (and thanks to Rob Martin for the sample) is 43%, a little more robust. Ex-sherry and ex-bourbon casks. Let's take another look.

Signatory Edradour 10 Year NCF

 

Following on the heels of my lovely Signatory bottling of the Linkwood 11 year is this very nice Signatory bottling of Edradour 10 year. Edradour is usually a sherry-forward dram, but this independent bottling is even nicer than the usual core expression, being neither chill filtered nor colored, and coming in at a slightly higher than usual 46%. Not to mention the fancy silver canister the bottle arrives in.  

Edradour 10 Year (2014 bottling, 40%)

Edradour is the smallest distillery in Scotland, at only three employees historically - and now only two. Owned by Signatory, it produces only a few expressions - but the 10 Year is worth notice. I absolutely loved this bottle, and am dying to try their other expressions, but many of them top of the $100 mark, making them rare birds in my household.