Edradour No.2 2018/2026 - 8 y.o. - 1st Fill Châteauneuf-du-Pape Hogsheads - Anniversary Release

Volume: 0.7 litres | Alcohol content: 57.1% | Chill filtration: No | Colouring: No

Special Features:

Maturation in First Fill Châteauneuf-du-Pape Hogsheads connects this Edradour with the Rhône wine region. Distilled at Edradour No.2 in 2018, the Single Malt matured for eight years before Signatory Vintage bottled it in 2026 at 57.1%. The former wine casks came from Château Mont-Redon.

The Anniversary Release celebrates Andrew Symington’s four decades in the whisky industry since 1986. It was released alongside a six-year-old whisky from Edradour No.1: two different maturations place the original distillery and the second production facility side by side. This eight-year-old whisky comes without chill filtration or added colouring in a 0.7-litre bottle, presented in a tube.

Tasting Notes:

• Nose: Plums and black cherries mingle with malt and subtle leather notes. Lavender blossoms become more noticeable over time without seeming perfumed. A little water leaves this aromatic profile largely unchanged.
• Palate: Neat, black pepper and liquorice emerge over black cherries. The malty character develops increasingly towards bitter orange. A little water rounds out the palate and brings the distillery character further forward.
• Finish: The finish recalls cherry tart with cinnamon and a little pepper. The lavender note is no longer apparent.

Distillery/Bottler:

Edradour lies near Pitlochry in Perthshire and was established in 1825 by a group of local farmers. Andrew Symington acquired the distillery in 2002. Under his leadership, the site was expanded with Edradour No.2, a second production facility that closely replicates the original operation. The whisky in this anniversary bottling comes from that facility.

The original farm distillery’s equipment includes an open cast-iron mash tun, Oregon Pine washbacks and small copper stills. A Morton refrigerator cools the wort with cold water; during distillation, the vapours condense in coiled copper pipes inside water-cooled worm tubs. This equipment illustrates the small-scale approach also reflected in the expansion.

Andrew Symington is also the founder of the independent bottler Signatory Vintage, which is responsible for this edition. He founded the company with his brother in 1988; its first bottling was a Glenlivet distilled in 1968. Signatory Vintage is based at Edradour Distillery. The connection between distillery and bottler creates scope for different cask maturations: Edradour explicitly distinguishes between whiskies matured entirely in wine casks and bottlings given a wine-cask finish after maturation in bourbon casks.

Facts: