Single Malt
Scotland
24 Dec 2011
24 Mar 2022
487
A ten year old single malt Scotch whisky from the Edradour Distillery, independently bottled by Signatory. This one was distilled on Christmas Eve 2011, and aged in cask #487 for a decade before being bottled up without any chill-filtration. It's packed with festive flavours, which is rather appropriate considering the date of distillation...
Gingerbread, cinnamon, a malty base of vanilla and biscuit dough.
A generous drop of sherry, wrapped up in barley and oak.
Warming spices, Christmas cake, and molasses.
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Firstly my tasting notes are from a newly opened bottle and from first and second (neck) pours, I let the dram breathe for 10 minutes and did not add water. I would describe this expression as complex, slightly dirty with a slight industrial funk and a noticeable wood smoke finish. The nose hides the phenolic element but not completely, vanilla, sherry and funk evident, I couldn’t find the gingerbread. Palate, fairly gentle arrival but good development with sherry, spice and ginger hints before phenolic finish hits without warning. One of the pleasures of this series is to experience not only un-chillfiltered expressions but also cask variations, the drawback is that not all expressions are equal and some are very different from website tasting notes or expectation. Firstly this cask Is significantly different from the two other cask/batch bottles I have tried. It does have a Sherry influence, it is spicy rich and oily however the finish is dominated by phenolic/smoke rather than molasses/Christmas cake. If someone is looking for an alternative to say the un-chillfitered Glendronach 15, i.e a sherry monster but does not enjoy lightly peated whiskies such as Benromach 10, look elsewhere, you probably will not enjoy this. If you enjoy Benromach 10 then this will provide a richer experience and it could be a hidden gem for anyone who loves a peated/ Sherry influence. I suspect the phenolic finish is due to excessive cask charring rather than peated barley although I understand why the previous reviewer mentioned Ballechin. I did however find the phenolic finish to be fragile, that is the influence fades rapidly the longer the dram breathes, after 30 minutes the smoke only appears towards the end of the finish (nice sweet/sour balance) and I suspect that the phenolic effect will be very subtle once bottle reaches the half way mark or after a few months. Final though, the first sip of the first dram did come as a shock as it more closely resembled an Islay or peated Campbeltown than a Sherry cask speysider but I expect the profile to change very rapidly as the level drops. I am glad I purchased this bottle, but it was not as anticipated, it is interesting never boring and very enjoyable but probably not for novices.
Maybe it's just me but I'm 100% they've either put peated barley into this cask, or it's been used before to age peated whiskey (Ballechin perhaps?). Whatever it is, all I can pick up is peat and it overrides any other smell, taste, flavour etc. Real shame as this signatory bottlings are usually superb.
