Ballechin #8 Sauternes Hogsheads

This eight and final release of Ballechin, batch 8 from 2013, matured on Sauternes wine casks. It is the last peated Edradour in the so-called Discovery Series. As of 2014, a Ballechin 10 Year Old will appear as a standard range whisky. This Ballechin 8 was served by Andrew Symington himself at a festival in Belgium.

The nose starts on peat and nut oil, a touch of tar and smoldering fire, before the fruity notes emerge. Think gooseberry and peach. A slice of pineapple and some honey. Very pleasant.

It is a lot fruitier on the palate than it was on the nose. The nuts and the fruit from the nose get company from mango and apricots and with some imagination even kiwi. The whole is neatly wrapped in a very smoky and spicy blanket. Nicely sweet on the one hand, wonderfully smoky on the other. Honey, again, and not a little bit. The sweet dessert wine works wonders with the peat in this case.

In the medium long finish, the nuts shine through the peat for a moment.

Not the most complex of Ballechin, but surely one of the best. A top whisky. Who would have thought?

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