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| Hi, this is one of our (almost) daily tastings. Santé! |
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November 1, 2018 |
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If there’s one distillery that ‘got way better’ over the recent years, that’s well Edradour. Twenty years ago we used to avoid them, while today we’re most happy to be able to do such a wee session. Let’s see what we have… |
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Edradour 2008/2018 (57.9%, OB, first fill sherry butt, cask #8, 515 bottles) 
Who’s not doing vintage designs these days? But yeah, it’s rather lovely. Colour: mahogany. Nose: works. Cuban cigars, walnut wine, flints, chocolate, Bovril or Viandox or even Maggi, old pu-erh tea, caraway cordials, Spanish ham, old balsamico, parsley, marrow quenelles… Well, you see, this seems to be a very nourishing dram… With water: some beef bouillon with some chives, thyme, and parsley. And a large spoon. Mouth (neat): yep, old-school sherry monster, full of pipe juice, caraway indeed, sloe, cloves, ginger cookies, leather, black cigars (I cannot not think of Italian Toscano cigars), then a lot of blackcurrant jam, blackberries, fiery young Nuits-St-Georges… With water: back to saltier elements, soups, broths, bouillons, herbs, stock cubes, wine, caraway… Finish: long, chocolaty, with a wonderful salty and long-tail (I know) aftertaste. Comments: extremely very good young Edradour. The butt did a great job, the old-fashioned way.
SGP:462 - 89 points. |
More first fill then, please… |
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Edradour 10 yo 2005/2016 (55.9%, OB, first fill sherry butt, for Taiwan, cask #52) 
This baby from a certain ‘Warriors Series’ that sounds a tad HP-y to me. Colour: dark brown amber. Nose: a tad silkier, rounder, fruitier, more chocolaty, but maybe easier, perhaps better balanced. Having said that there’s quite some balsamico too, that Bovril, soups, and such. Perhaps miso. With water: more straight malt, raisins, rather in a Speyside way. Cake. Mouth (neat): good, less ‘soupy’ than the newer 2008, sweeter, fruitier, less spectacular. Cherry liqueur, kirsch, milk chocolate, ginger… With water: good, certainly, just not as spectacular as the 2008. Shouldn’t have had that one as #1, I tell you. Raisins. Finish: medium, raisiny, good, pleasant, rather easy. Comments: very clean for Edradour, you may have thought it was Glenlivet.
SGP:551 - 84 points. |
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Edradour 11 yo 2004/2016 (59.2%, OB, first fill sherry butt, for Taiwan, cask #476) 
More fearless warriors… Colour: amber. Nose: all on cake this time, kougelhopf, panettone, brioche… Then a few earthy herbs indeed, a touch of camphor that you could have noticed in earlier Edradours (but in a wackier manner), then more eucalyptus, banana leaves, lapsang souchong, pinewood smoke… Some Ballechin involved here? In any way? With water: what? Could we see the papers? Coal tar everywhere. Mouth (neat): indeed there is a smokiness, and some tarmac, Laphroaig or something, camphor… And some dry ‘smoky’ sherry. Someone should do some kind of genetic analysis on this one. With water: indeed. And it’s good, but it’ll just lose you. Finish: long and smoky, pleasantly sour in some kind of Thai way. Comments: bordering the blended malt category. Unless this is Edradour+Ballechin, I would suppose that would still be a single malt?
SGP:453 - 85 points. |
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Edradour 22 yo 1995/2018 (54,2%, OB, for Whisky L Shanghai, Oloroso finish, 661 bottles)
It’s not exactly a finishing, as this baby spent 13 years in the second cask. So say double-maturation? Colour: mahogany. Nose: indeed, it does not feel like it’s just a quick finishing, at all. We’re rather on walnut cake, pecan pie, assorted roasted nuts, then touches of humus and mushrooms, cedarwood, cough drops (ever heard of Pulmoll?), a little menthol, embrocations, tiger balm (dear Chinese friends, save the tigers!)… With water: nice nuts, cakes, croissants, and hints of hand soap. Mouth (neat): this is pre-Signatory distillate, and indeed you do feel it’s a little dirtier, less coherent, and less bright, but the re-racking worked pretty well. Earthy chestnuts, caramel sauce, a touch of soap (typical – the Seagram days). With water: don’t. Finish: medium, while you would swear you just had three Mars bars. Comments: very good, but I prefer newer vintages.
SGP:551 - 83 points. |
Oh let’s have a last one. We’ll have a few Ballechins another day… |
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Edradour 9 yo 2006/2015 (46%, OB, Barolo hogsheads, 2275 bottles) 
So you say someone actually bought hogsheads and some Barolo in bulk, and made some ‘Barolo hogsheads’? Or did someone else re-cooper some actual Barolo botti or barriques? Knowing that Barolos have to stay for at least 18 months in wood? Well, this is all a bit shady… Colour: not red, not even pink, and hardly amber. Nose: not winey, which is good in my book. No Nebbiolo that I can detect – but I’m no Nebbiolo expert, which is a shame – and rather some kind of orange cake, raspberry milkshake, and perhaps a few marshmallows. I think this is rather fair. Mouth: fine. Pepper and raspberries, blueberry muffins, gingerbread, strawberry yoghurt, touches of green pepper, malt, toasted brioche, biscuits… Not exactly dissonant, but I wouldn’t say it’s totally ‘a whole’ (good one S.) Finish: medium, a tad grape-ier this time. Comments: not my cup of malt, but this winesky isn’t bad at all, in my opinion. It’s just that I would prefer one glass of Edradour plus one glass of Barolo. Or the other way ‘round.
SGP:551 - 78 points. |
(Thank you Derek, Greg and Paul) |
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October 2018 |
Favourite recent bottling:
Rare Ayrshire 44 yo 1974/2018 (53%, Signatory Vintage, 30th Anniversary, bourbon barrel, cask #2606, 122 bottles) - WF 93
Favourite older bottling:
Pittyvaich-Glenlivet 16 yo 1977/1994 (60%, Cadenhead) - WF 85
Favourite bang for your buck bottling:
Talisker 8 yo 2009/2018 (59.4%, OB, Special Release, first fill American oak hogsheads) - WF 91
Favourite malternative:
Domaine de Baraillon 20 yo (42%, OB, Claverie, Bas-armagnac, +/-2015) - WF 90 |
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