PBMichiganWolverine
Ballechin 8 Year Double Malt Double Cask
Single Malt — Highlands, Scotland
Reviewed
September 4, 2021 (edited October 12, 2021)
I opened this bottle quite a while ago to send samples ( to @pkingmartin , @jonwilkinson7309 , @Scott_E , @ctbeck11 , @Richard-ModernDrinking , and I think @ContemplativeFox )...but I never actually had a pour. Finally decided to have a dram last night; actually forgot I even had the bottle.
This is an 8 yr bottling of 3 Ballechin bourbon casks, and 1 of a Sherry Edradour. Ballechin is simply the Peated version of Edradour. But it’s a very different style of peat than Islay; this is an earthier musky aroma and flavor rather than the bonfire or medicinal -iodine style. I’m a fan of Ballechin, I’ve always felt it’s been underrated. But then again, I feel Edradour itself is underrated.
This takes the earthy gritty Ballechin and tempers it with a bit of nutty sweetness. Nothing inherently wrong with it, but I feel as if it’s pulling it’s punches. At 8 yrs old, I expected it to be wilder and more abrasive, but instead the Edradour Sherry side tempered the Ballechin side. Yes, you still get the mushroom-y aroma, and the damp earth taste, but a bit of sweetness. It’s a bit disjointed...as if the Sherry sweetness is acting independently than the peaty Ballechin. I feel a few more years together in cask would’ve really integrated this , taking it from average inoffensive to damn good must-try status.
Overall, not bad...just not as wild as I like my Ballechins, and the integration in cask was too short, like a Hollywood couple that were barely even married before a divorce.
Giving it a 3, which to me is like a passing grade C.
60.0
USD
per
Bottle
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