Ballechin 17 yo - Ex-Burgundy Wine Cask #327-334

Volume: 0.7 litres | Alcohol content: 53.5% | Chill filtration: No | Colouring: No

Special Features:

This Ballechin edition spent its entire maturation in eight Burgundy wine hogsheads filled with whisky for the first time. Distilled in November 2005, the heavily peated single malt spent just over 17 years in casks 327 to 334; it did not merely receive a wine finish. Bottled in July 2023, the release comprises 2,103 bottles of 0.7 litres each. The whisky was bottled at its natural cask strength of 53.5%, without chill filtration or added colouring, and is presented in a tube.

Long maturation in Burgundy wine casks brings dark berries, cherries, grapes and plums together with peat smoke. Walnut, dark chocolate and oak spice lend a bitter-edged counterpoint to the fruit. Dried fruit, salted caramel, leather and tobacco also emerge in the finish.

Tasting Notes:

• Nose: On the nose, dark berries, cherries and grapes mingle with raisins, nuts and wood. A hint of vanilla, honey and cinnamon accompanies gentle, slightly earthy smoke.
• Palate: The whisky is mouth-filling on the palate: pronounced peat smoke meets blackberries, blackcurrants and plum preserve. Walnuts, oak spice, fruity BBQ sauce and chocolate with grapes and nuts round out the flavour.
• Finish: The long finish combines red-wine fruit and dried fruit with dark chocolate, sweet-tinged oak and salted caramel. Leather, tobacco and spice linger alongside integrated smoke.

Distillery/Bottler:

Edradour is near Pitlochry in Perthshire and was founded in 1825 as a cooperative of local farmers. Since 2003, it has produced a heavily peated single malt under the Ballechin name, using malt with a phenol content of at least 50 ppm. The name recalls another Perthshire distillery, which closed in 1927. Edradour’s traditional equipment includes an open cast-iron mash tun, two Oregon pine washbacks and two copper stills with worm-tub condensers. Edradour also distilled the whisky for this edition, oversaw its maturation and bottled it itself as an official distillery release.

Facts: