Edradour surely is and oddball distillery, and I did say I wasn't gonna include any of these weird distilleries such as Mannochmore, Speyside or Loch Lomond for that matter in these tastings. My subject was to try whiskies that people, from what I experience, neither loves or hates (likes or dislikes). So, this is one of the smallest distilleries in all of scotland with an annual produce of only 90 000 litres. What else is funny is that it's currently owned by the independent bottler Signatory, so, as to no surprise, most available Edradours are bottled for and by Signatory. Except the 10yo standard and a small number of young cask strength with different finishing a couple years back. They do also have a peated variety called Ballechin that I haven't yet come around to try, so that must wait for a later tasting. Up until 1986 Edradour distillery produced only blends, such as King's Ransom and House of Lords. So it's a whisky that kind of new to the market from a distillery that's been around since 1837.
PS: Next tasting will be of single malts from the only distillery in Scotland founded pre-1970 and still operational, that I have not yet tasted one single drop of!
Edradour 11yo 1997-2008 43% Signatory Vintage cask#561
One from a sherry butt, kind of light bronze color. They do a lot of cask variations at Edradour, and sometimes they succeed and sometimes they don't. In my opinion. Sort of the same as Bruichladdich, Springbank and many others nowadays. It smells fresh, minty, cherry wine, balsamic reduction, creamy apple tart. A weird one that I think has been taken from the oak far too soon. The taste is all on cinnamon and dried coriander, a wee bit spirity and an aftertaste that's drying and a bit rough. But all in all it's far from a bad whisky. There's some orange peel in the rather short finish, and after a while it becomes a bit austere.
Quite alright: 5
Edradour 11yo 1997-2008 43% Signatory Vintage cask#353
Well, everything is the same as the last one except the cask# and a slightly darker hue. I hope the tasting will show bigger differences. The smell is sweeter, fuller and more perfumy in this one. Reminds me of some old Fahrenheit cologne I used to nip from my dad's bathroom shelf when I was much younger. Other than that they're very similar. It has some seriously slow legs, although I rarely check, as I feel it rarely provides me any significant information. The taste is more round and subtle than the #561, and it has this lingering vanilla and caramel pudding creamy flavor. There's some licorice and oakiness lurking in the background, but all in all it's just a light and easy sherried whisky that I actually think many sherry-lovers would find extremely good as there are no spirity notes or other off-notes. Seems the cask does all the talking in this small sherry delight.
Very well, probably a great value-for-money whisky, if you like them sherried: 6.5
Edradour 20yo 1983-2003 46% OB Port Cask Matured
A 20yo Port Cask matured Edradour, I believe this possibly is the oldest Port Cask Matured whisky I've ever tried, apart from finishings and such. The best port matured whisky I ever tried was a Laphroaig bottled for Whisky & Cigar, bought in Berlin. And that was without question a 10'er. Edradour is usually far off at the other side of the scale from Laphroaig what taste matters, so it'll be fun to see what the port cask can provide here. Orange hue, nice, looks a bit like those artificially colored diet caramel drops. It smells rich, toffee, tawny port, roasted lamb dishes, tzatziki, green peppers, earthy, some vegetabel stock and cod liver, a strange one. The taste is sweet and syrupy, honeyed, more like a sweet oloroso than port this one. It has some sweet licorice flavor and a short finish on butter and latex.
I think this one is too light and easy for a 20yo, but very drinkable: 5
Edradour 21yo 1976-1997 52.3% Signatory Vintage cask#137/138 btl.452/980
I have read elsewhere that this release is one that's helping create the sort of less than positive view many have on whisky from the Edradour Distillery. I must say this is the oldest Edradour I have ever come across, and by the looks of it it's not from a sherry cask either. So, if this doesn't make recent Edradour's justice, I'll just forget this one ever was bottled and move on and see what next bottling has to off. Also remember, this one was bottled in 1997, long before Signatory bought the distillery, and also the year that Signatory bought the two casks that I started this tasting with, so something must have triggered Signatory by this bottling, or? Lightest one so far, has the color of light beer, smells bitter, canned herring and nettles soup. It's not getting any better so I'll let it rest for a while. The only thin developing in this one is the spiritiness so I'll just skip right to my palative view. The taste is not so bad, but very herbal, some light vanilla but thats about it except the huge agriculture and detergent notes. I'll give it one last chance by adding some water. Now it becomes lighter, sweeter and more drinkable at first, but that spirity bitterness is soon to come. This one is fun for measuring past with recent times, but I would never recommend it as a whisky.
This one lacks just about everything to be bottled by S/V imho: 1.5
Edradour 10yo 1995-2006 57.4% OB cask#451
From the series "Straight from the Cask", which is a fancier expression of "cask strength & unchill-filtered without coloring". Who'd need it anyway, this one is as dark as any a'bunadh. Since this one is a 10yo, I'd like to make a comparison to #353's legs, and this one is much, much, much quicker and much thinner, so there you have it. Well, there is one year apart, but this much difference? The nose is spot on with dark grape juice, phenol, toasted rye bread and gasoline, beautiful in its very own way. I have to say this one reminds me a bit of some Aberlour A'bunadh so far. The taste is sweet, thick oloroso, honey, chewy cigars, more honey, red paprika, nutmeg, cumquats, dark grapes, roasted squash, lots of good stuff so far. The aftertaste is all on phenol and gunpowder.
A sherrybomb for sherry-lovers: 8
Next tasting: Off the Beaten Path#10
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