Monday, July 23, 2007

Malt Mission 2007 #121

Edradour "Straight from the Cask"
10yo Port Finish

25 Jan 1994-23 June 2004
Highland Single Malt Whisky

55.9% abv

£38

$145(CAD)*

$65(USD)


Back in action on the Malt Mission after a great time in Norway. So we'll start this Highland-themed week with something I tasted last week. I bought this for Kristin's brother (he is a port enthusiast) some years back and he brought me some to taste when we were in Norway. Skål!

Packaged in pretty cute wooden boxes of different colours, Signatory's 'Straight from the Cask' series of Edradours has been hit and miss from the start. Having a distillery that is known for making and rich, hearty highland whisky, but working with decades of less-than-ideal casks Edradour was filling in Pernod Ricard's years of neglect, Signatory has had to make the most of what was available to them from a certain era since acquiring the distillery in 2002, and in some cases, this has meant using a second maturation, or ACE-ing (Bruichladdich/Jim McEwan), or finishing.
The distillery has started to take great care in cask selection and currently fill only 12 casks per week. Bottled as a single since 1986, Edradour has managed to be one of the most visited distilleries in Scotland, providing guests with a great image of a cute farm distillery seemingly from a different era, perfectly located straddling a wee burn in a tiny glen in the hills above Pitlochry.

More info can be found at past Edradour Malt Missions HERE

TASTING NOTES:


Sweet spirit, wine, wet tootbrush without toothpaste. Tawny port. Floral and grassy. Water brings out a nutty oiliness and creates more wine-spirit (cognac?) impressions. "Burnt grape"- Espen

Oak and bran, cookie dough, pie crust. Sucking the water off the tootbrush above (like some people do when brushing their teeth). Drying with oak and puckering with grape skins.

SUMMARY:

The spicy, minty Edradour character is present, but beyond that this is an unusual whisky. The port influence is noticable, but it is the whisky spirit beneath that makes this such an unusual malt. A drop of water really lets the creaminess of the port wood do its thing.

*this price is for other finishes in the series currently available in Ontario, but just to give you an idea... and what a mad price!!! LCBOh my goodness...

Malt Mission #120
Malt Mission #122
Malt Mission #123
Malt Mission #124
Malt Mission #125

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1 comment:

Matthew said...

You know I love Edradour, but somehow those toothbrush comments were a real turnoff. Interesting, but not appealing.