Edradour 2009 10 Year Un-Chillfiltered Collection (Signatory)

2011 bottled in 2021 A-amber +2,medium viscosity N- apricots, plums, honey, toffee, wet oak, raisins, dried fruits, rum cake, nutmegs, berries, malt, chocolate P- spicy arrival, rich, full, oily, tobacco ashes, honey, toffee, vanilla, milk chocolate, rum cake, wet oak, plums, raisins, apricots, nutmegs F- long finish, strong sweet-oaky aftertaste (it keeps lingering around)

Edradour, Scotland's smallest distillery, was once owned by Frank Costello, the Mafia Kingpin that was the inspiration for the Godfather. Having said that wonderful historic fact, this distillery is one of my favorites and this particular expression is one that i have been trying to taste for a long time. Bottled at 46%abv, with an incredible chesnut color. On the nose, it is just perfect. Cabernet Sauvingon, grape jelly, raisins, champagne cola, cinnamon, church wine and white chocolate. It feels "bloody". Almonds and bread. Amazing aroma. On the palate is a song from the band UB40, because "Red red wine". White chocolate also present here. Aftertaste is dissapointing. Pepper and Sulphur; Winey; new wood. It is very short and dry. It lasts not more than 2 seconds. Overall, this was an unbalanced dram, but not a bad experience. The nose was so beautiful, the palate was average and the aftertaste was sad. Don't get me wrong, i will still buy it, drink it and be happy with it, but i feel this one as a dram for "winey situations". My score for it is 82 over 100.

Tasting the 2010 version. This is an enjoyable oddball. A funky sweet and sour nose of apricots and almonds, a pleasant minty arrival with a long ginger cake and treacle finish. A unique whisky that dares to be different.

Edradour 10-year-old Signatory Vintage: A Tale of Two Edradours... This is a cautionary tale! I am a big fan of SV and have had some really outstanding cask strength offerings from them so far. I had heard a lot about Edradour so I dipped my toe in the water and got a bottle of the 10 year from the SV unchill-filtered collection. It is proofed down to 46% and unceremoniously marketed. The bottle I got was 2008 cask 359. Because SV owns Edradour I assume they have access to picking out the best casks and blending the rest. This bottle was wonderful. It is the kind of nutty/jammy sherried scotch that I like (I assume Oloroso), not a sherry bomb like Aberlour A'bunadh or Glendronach 21. It reminds me of Benrinnes Flora and Fauna which I love (alas I have not had the legendary 22/23 Benrinnes). I have a different bottling than this bottling in Distiller. This is the actual bottling: https://www.whiskybase.com/whiskies/whisky/132958/edradour-2008-sv Nose: baking spices, cinnamon, dark fruit Palate: Sweet, Rich and semi-viscous. A little spicy. Coats the mouth. Berry jam. Finish: Medium, spices and dark fruit Rating: 4.25 out of 5 stars This was the Edradour I had heard of. A really great and affordable whisky that was young but had made the most of those 10 years. I loved it so I bought another bottle but I was unaware of the perils of single casks... This is the next bottle I got. It was actually from an earlier bottling: https://www.whiskybase.com/whiskies/whisky/147758/edradour-2007-sv Nose: baking spices, cinnamon, dark fruit, a little sulphur Palate: spicy, some sulphur, the dark fruit is muted Finish: Very bitter and too much wood. Rating: 1.5 out of 5 stars I went from the highs to the lows with these bottlings and I have learned my lesson about the variability of single cask offerings. However, it makes me wonder... there are many stories of bad single casks such as the sulphurous "ditch water" of Highland Park, etc. Why would a distillery put out such a bad or borderline bad offering? Why not try to bury it in a blend instead? I get that they need to make money on as much of their production as possible. It is always about money. Does anyone know what happens to sub-par casks? I assume they try to finish some in some type of cask to try and fix them or put them in a blend to hide their characteristics. Do distilleries ever dump aged stock as just unpalatable? I am always wary of IBs because I assume the distilleries will ditch their less successful product on them. I assume that sometimes it can be salvaged but I have read many examples of bad IB bottlings. Please comment and discuss!

By far the best vintage of this series. Chocolate, spice, and a velvety oily texture. It’s a sherry bomb in disguise - tastes more like a well-aged bourbon but without the heat.