Ballechin Act (repost)

I was wandering the floor at Whisky Live Paris when I saw Sukhinder Singh sitting behind the Edradour booth. I joined him when he thrust a glass into my hands and said those fateful words every whisky lover yearns to hear: "Try this".

While I was tasting, Andrew Symington, the Head guy at Edradour 7 Signatiry came over to chat.

Andrew Symington: How old do you think that is?

Kevin Erskine: <take a taste> Very Peaty - I would say it's a little young. <taste again> I'll say six.

AS: Three years and 5 months

KE: What was it aged in? It's got an interesting sweetness.

AS: First fill Burgundy casks.

KE: Exclusively?

AS: Yes. Totally matured in Burgundy. It's not a finish, it is a complete maturation.

KE: Is this available now?

AS: Yes. This is our new Ballechin <pronounced bahh-LEK-in>. Heavily Peated.

KE: It's got a lot of peat, but not as much as I would think would still be there after three and a half years. Why did you decide to bottle so young?

AS: We've been tasting it and we think that it shows quite a bit of maturity for it's years, so let's go ahead and launch it now and get it out there.

KE: Has it been matured in anything else?

AS: Oh yes - we've got it maturing in another 8 different types of wood. So we will be doing a new limited release every 6 - 9 months until it gets to 10 years old, when it will be officially launched as a 10 year old. This is to introduce it into the market and get some interest.

KE: What markets?

AS: Worldwide. About 23 countries.

KE: How's distribution going in the US?

AS: It's going very well, we are doing about 4 - 5 containers, a year to the US.

There were a total of 6,000 bottles produced – (5,100 70cl and 900 750ml). Remember you can only sell 750 ml bottles into the US, so this will be quite limited here.

As Andrew stated, they willcontinue to roll out limited editions in the various woods over the next 5-7 years. Each release will be at approximately 6 - 9 monthly intervals and each will be limited to 6,000 bottles. Each featured wood type will only be released once.

Andrew elaborates

Andrew followed up with some more information.

As you know, Islay malts are currently those with the greatest rate of growth and we believed that the small stills at Edradour, which produce a heavy oily spirit would be ideal for producing a heavily peated malt. We also wished to broaden the appeal of the Edradour Distillery. We were very impressed with the quality of the first heavily peated distillations.

Also based on the results of the wood finishing activity on Edradour we decided to mature the whisky in several types of first fill wood. We have used 9 types of cask to date – Bourbon, Burgundy (red), Burgundy (white), Olorosso Sherry, Port, Claret, Sauternes, Madeira, and Manzanilla. We also have some spirit in 2nd fill sherry casks. All casks are of the highest quality, a philosophy applied to both Edradour and Ballechin.

Whilst up to 50% of long term distillation capacity could be allocated to Ballechin, it is important to understand that Ballechin is being accommodated within existing capacity and within the context of us continuing to run the distillery at the 90-100k litres of alcohol level, which has been its historical output level for at least the last 20 years. We have been monitoring development of Ballechin in cask closely, and have taken various samples to a number of whisky shows. Knowledgeable consumers and trade personnel have consistently fed back the view that the spirit displays character/complexity dramatically in excess of its real age, and were keen to see bottlings available at an early stage.

We also believe the whisky to be of exceptional quality and character with great depth. Tasted blind it is unlikely that the consumer, or the connoisseur, would place the burgundy matured at less than 4 years old. This, the first bottling, whilst attractive to collectors, has been done with the intention of it being consumed and enjoyed by the consumer.

Edradour Ballechin - 1st release
100% Burgundy matured. 46% Non-chill-filtered. Natural coloring. Peated to not less than 50 ppm.

Comments

[Johnny RnR]

Is the taste comparable to the McCarthy's single malt from Clear Creek? I know that is also bottled at a bit over three years.

[Joshua London]

Who imports/distributes it in the US?

[Johnny RnR]

Josh, it looks like it is distributed through Total Beverage Solutions. (I'm in St Louis and buy from Gateway Wines)

http://www.totalbeveragesolution.com/edradour/distributors.asp

I hope that this is much better than the other Edradour bottlings. I haven't been impressed with much of what I've tasted; though I do like the parties involved.

[Mike Simpson]

Haven't been able to find Ballechin (Edradour) in the U.S. yet. Any suggestions?

I know I can have it shipped here, but thought I'd save a little trouble.I'm in San Francisco.

Slainte'
Mike Simpson

[James K Graham]

This is still available at Corti Bros. market in Sacramento, CA. I saw it there just today--27 March 2008.

[Steve]

I bought a bottle in Chicago the other day - haven't opened it yet though (April 28, 2008)

[Sam Filmus]

The third release of Ballechin is going to be available in about a month. This is a portwood expression. I'm looking forward to it!