Why did I buy it?
I had just tried (well not just, but a few days previous) a Longrow Red. Peated Campbeltown malt finished in red wine casks. It made me do a giddy little dance; I was sceptical on how it would work and if the tannins of the wine would overpower the spirit and make it all a bit well; naff. I do think the peat helped though, gave it an extra bit of something to work with the wine. So my interest certainly being piqued; I kept my eye out for the Longrow, or something similar.
Where did I buy it?
I promise you my life isn’t always visiting distilleries and exotic whisky locations; but on this occasion, it was! My partner had entered a competition to win 2 tickets for a tour of Blair Athol Distillery which involved guessing how many corks were on a Christmas tree. She got the nearest guess so we won; and incorporated the trip into one of our Edinburgh jaunts.
Whilst in Pitlochry I thought it made sense to nip up to Edradour too; as it was only a couple of miles away. No time for a tour unfortunately; but an extended visit to the shop there; where upon entering I was reminded that the distillery is owned by the independent bottler Signatory Vintage.
Entering the shop I was welcomed by two lovely long walls either side of the unit filled with bottles of wonderful spirits from the distillery and Signatory Vintage, and in the distance the rather glorious looking glass cabinet on the back wall filled with amongst other things, a 1964 Black Bowmore, several of Diageo’s Rare Malts collection and some rather cool artefacts from Edradour’s past; such as a bottle of Edradour from 1921 (Sadly empty). This my friends, was going to be a fun shopping experience!
The shop had actually just taken delivery of a coach load of tourists so most of the sales assistants were pretty busy; I did make a comment to one of them about their very reasonable prices and fantastic range and asked for recommendation but was just met with a generic “they’re all really good”. No matter, I’d already found what I wanted from a large range of different wine finished Ballechins.
Have I opened it? Yes, and finished it, finally
Review
Nose: Smoke, but not as heavy as the ‘Heavily Peated’ moniker underneath the name would have you believe. Then tinned strawberries, a very syrupy vanilla scent
Taste: Smoke and heavy fruit notes; needs some water added to loosen it up. More smoke and oak coming through but with plenty of cooked fruits like plum and cherry
Finish: Fruit notes and smoke linger for a while, but nothing much else appears
uk_whisky 