The Ultimate Ballechin 2007 11yo...

The Ultimate Ballechin 2007 11yo (59.0%): Today's randomly chosen sample is a single malt Scotch... It is an eleven years old Ballechin distilled by the Edradour Distillery and bottled by The Ultimate an independent bottling company based in The Netherlands. The whisky is casked in 2007, aged in a second fill sherry butt carrying the number #171 and bottled in 2019 at cask strength yielding 667 bottles. This is quite a lot of bottles from a single butt after almost twelve years of maturation to be honest... They got lucky with the angel's share.

Color: Light amber, orange blossom honey color with a delicate ring of small teardrops all around the glass hesitantly forming thin and very slow legs in time.

Nose: Young peated spirit... Manuka honey, plastic shopping bags and gherkins. Boiled sausages, damp gardening soil and decomposing leaves. Adding water opens it up: Malt vinegar, beef stew and sauteed mushrooms. Fried bacon and spent yeast, the very smell you would get from an emptied washback. Like being inside of a cow shed and ammonia. Letting it air for some time improves the nose way more than adding water. Pine cones, dry tobacco leaves and half burnt logs.

Palate: Burnt ends, bbq sauce and charcoal... Dried thyme, roasted almonds and roasted peanuts. After adding water: Almond paste, cacao nibs and espresso beans. It benefits immensely from airing on the palate as well. A little vegetal now... Dandelion leaves, bitter greens and stinging nettles. Old woolen blankets, eucalyptus drops and spearmint leaves. Crunchy malt and candied orange peel.

Finish: Long and with a tingling sensation on the tongue... Ginger beer, white pepper and allspice.

Overall: I've never been a big fan of Edradour distillates but always had relatively better experiences with their peated spirits compared to unpeated ones this whisky confirms that... This one didn't start great for me but after adding water and especially after allowing it to air for some time it opened up pretty nicely. In the end I enjoyed it very much actually.... Very decent whisky especially at this price point... Thanks to Koray Kaan Ă–zdemir a.k.a. Whisky Monster for sharing this sample from his own bottle.

Price: €60



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