Edradour Ballechin Double Malt. Highlands, Scotland. ABV: 46%. Tasted at Whisky a Day HQ, $19 (50mL sample bottle from Casa de Vinos).
Colour: Bright toffee.
Nose: Rich timber and varnish notes, like walking into a woodwork shop. Smokey notes like you’ve pressed the timber a bit too hard against the planer or circular saw and it’s started to smoulder a little.
Palate: Cool smoke, blueberries, dark chocolate and cocoa.
Finish: Charcoal notes in the finish, becoming drier. Like the slightly burnt sausages left over at a BBQ, you just keep going back for one more bite.
Comments: Created as a vatting of one cask of Edradour sherry cask matured whisky, along with three casks of Edradour’s Ballechin peated whisky matured in ex Bourbon casks. For me, it’s a little too heavy on the peated notes, which dominate the sherry and juicy dried fruit notes that Edradour is known for.