Day 4 of the BTC 2017 competition brought me the first Ballechin I tasted. For those who don’t know it, Ballechin is the peated whisky distilled in Edradour distillery. In our case it’s a 12 year old Ballechin, distilled in 2004 and matured in Manzanilla sherry cask #278 that was bottled in 28.10.2016 after yielding 495 bottles.
When I sniffed and tasted it, my first reaction was: this is no Islay peat. But then I recalled a virgin oak Octomore single cask which held a very similar profile so it was either peated laddie or product outside Islay. I went for young age (7 years) thinking of an overly active cask with ABV of 53%. For distillery, at the last minute I decided it’s not an Islay whisky so I went with something unexplored and ‘funky’ (at least for me), Ballechin and good thing I went this way because I was right on this and wrong on the rest. At least I got some points!
Ballechin 2004 12 Year Old Manzanilla Sherry Cask (55.6%, cask #278)
Nose: Smoky. sweet oak, tons of burnt wood smoke, ashes in the background, some special cask or maybe a heavily recharred/toasted cask? reminds me a single cask virgin oak Octomore. Continue reading
Nose: Rich and oily, lots of sweet malt and vanilla along with fairy big earthy peat note. And after a while there’s also a distinctive smoky note, honey, salt, some tropical fruits. 
Nose: Sweet, some caramel and somewhat artificial sweetener sweetness at first that died with time, dried fruit and berries tends to sour, weak sour oak spices, smoke and peat after a while, red berries and cherries filled milk chocolate.
Nose: Pears, very minerally (assuming it’s partially due to high ABV), honey, hints of greenery, green fruit and ginger. With water: more honey and pears and less minerals and slowly developing nuttiness. 
Nose: Young and malty. Then sweet peat with gentle smoke, honey, some Ardbeg fruitiness, pears. Getting smokier after a while with newly developed ashes note. 
Nose: At first it smells young relatively to its age with strong malt, barley and vanilla notes. Then we some sherry notes joins the party in the form of a sweet dried fruit topping . After a few minutes the dried fruit gets stronger and are joined by mellow cinnamon, nutmeg, red currants and milk chocolate. With water: more vanilla and malt, milk chocolate, some ‘straight’ fruitiness with almost no dried fruit. 
Nose: Soft, starting with salt, meat, seaweed, honey and then then peat and bonfire smoke, a bit of tar, very maritime! 
Nose: Malty, damp wood shows up at first but is waved away later on, honey, pie dough and frankly, it’s quite bready. White pepper, subdued creamy fruitiness and apples and it developed a mineral edge after a few minutes 
Whisky Gospel 