Edradour 10 Year Old

A small highland distillery, in the 30's it was apparently owned by a New York mobster. It was bought in 2002 from Pernod Ricard by Andrew Symington, who also runs independent bottler Signatory. In some ways its not unlike the Springbank/Cadenhead connection.

Stangely the 10 year old is the only one of their whiskys which they "chill filter" and it's bottled at 40%. It's weird since Signatory is know for its unchillfiltered line. It's a vatting of bourbon & sherry casks, no specific mentions.

Nose: Musty, damp basement, funky, a bit of sweetness, vanilla, milk jam, a feeling of oxydized sherry, the tiniest hint of peat, like smelling burnt leaves in the distance.

Palate: At first I got chinchona bark like in tonic water, it was very weird. Allspice, black earth, puer eh tea. It veers into full on malted barley notes but with a good dose of oak spices, there is also a feeling of sharp cider.

Finish: Oak, caramel, coconut oil, juniper, a touch of chlorine & damp concrete.

What a ride! This thing has lots of character, despite the low ABV, it's not an easy one but none of it was unpleasant. Some bits reminded me of the grimy side of Springbank.

That said I wouldn't buy a bottle of this, it lacks some of the depth to push it into the high score territory. I am definitely curious to try more from this distillery.

A tiny highland distillery which produces not a lot of whisky. It must have a dedicated cliental, and I have met people who like this stuff. I bought this bottle several years ago largely on a whim because tasting notes I’d seen listed such an odd range of flavours. I’ve never really got into it since... Very odd malt, a style all of it’s own. Nose: Wet socks and bitter herbs. Taste: Strange minty medicinal flavour with some cabbage notes. Full bodied and bitter sweet but not necessarily in a pleasant way. Finish: Medium length bitter sweetness continues. Cloying stuff.

This has quite a pungent nose that I'm not sure how to describe. It is a bit soapy and processed, with quite a strong alcohol presence. There really is quite a strong off note here for me, and this all transfers to the palate. The finish rescues it a bit, with quite a nice malty flavour lingering, but the nose and palate prevent making it anything for which I would reach again. I tried adding water and leaving it to breathe for some time, but there was no improvement.

This was only from a sample, and I'm not sure whether this may have been a bad batch, but I was very disappointed by this as I was expecting quite good things. I think that this is possibly my least favourite whisky so far. I'd rate it lower than Jura 10 and superstition, both of which I found utterly lacking in character. But superstition, at least, is quite swiggable, whereas this just made me turn my nose up a bit.

Warm thick sweet spicy arrival develops a balanced fruity / herbal long slow finish.

When I saw some videos of the Edradour distillery, I fell in love with this little farm and I just hád to have one of their bottles. In the shop there were 3 cans of the 10, 2 of them grey, more modern looking and 1 older yellow-ish version. On the back on the yellow it says NATURAL COLOUR but that was not on the other 2... I took the yellow one obviously for €36,70.

Appearance: pretty dark for a ten year old, thick and slow oily legs, promising!

Nose: This is some lovely nose! Grandmothers custard cake in a field of flowers, sweet barley, hay, almonds and sherried wood. With water (3 little drops)the aroma gets a little wider, more flowers, bigger sherry, ripe red fruit and a tiny bit of peat and smoke appear. One of the nicest noses I had so far, because its not so strong, you can really hang your snout in there and breathe deep:) And when you do, you dont want to get out!

Arrival is quite strange to me, flowers and spice, almost like a good rye whiskey:p With water the initial strangeness softens and after 5-10 seconds it falls into place. Very nutty flavors, cashew, dry vanilla, oily oak and sweet multigrain bread at the same time. Comes in pretty big for its 40% It developes with cream, butter, more oak, some yelleow fruity notes and a bit of smoke.

It finishes with dry fresh wood, more cream sherried cherries and roasted nuts. After the initial entry warmth the strength quickly fades, but the flavors stay in your mouth for a while and ends with bread and butter. The finish resembles the nose more than the taste I think.

a Bit of an odball, but a very good, practically handmade whisky and it makes me want to try their cask strength products.

check out my review at: selectscotchwhisky.com/2013/04/…

This is a very good whisky. Add to that it is the smallest distillary in Scotland and that it is made by only 3 men, what more do you want. Great whisky, great story. It is a most beautiful location. If you ever have the chance to visit do so.

My wife got me one of the coolest Christmas presents ever! A whisky advent calender. A calender made up of 24 different whiskies, from all different countries, all different whisky regions, all different ages and strengths. Including a 50 year old Speyside!

Each calender is different, with different samples in each calender, and I immediately loved this calender enough that I requested 2 more calenders.

Lots of different distilleries, Talisker, Glenfarclas, Tobermory, Aberlour, Caol Ila, Bowmore, Four Roses, Wild Turkey!

So many different whiskies, so little time.

So I'm finishing working my way through the entry level whiskies and the last one on the list.

Edradour 10 year old.

Edradour, the smallest distillery in Scotlands, a Highlands distillery.

I've seen the bottles before, they have a tendency to draw one's eye, but I've never got a chance to try it.

Until now.

So this evening when I got home I cracked the sample bottle open and poured the contents into a glencairn, it pours a copperish color, with not very many legs.

Nosing the glencairn the first thing that hits me is it's spice. Lots of spice, cinnamon, nutmeg, then it moves sweet with honey and then goes floral with apple blossoms, fruity with citrus and some vanilla at the end.

A fairly complex nose, especially for a 10 year old, I really enjoy the brief burst of apple blossoms personally.

Time for a taste though!

Mmmm really not sure how much I care for this!

Flavors are oaky, then it shifts into a dry floral apple and cinnamon sequence. Very dry.

The oak at least initially overpowers all the other flavors and makes it mildly unpleasant at times. The whisky does improve, but that initial burst of oak is quite dry and bitter.

The finish moves to a sweet apple pie suggestion with apples, cinnamon, and vanilla. A little sweet and quite pleasant.

Now I've never seen Edradour before in Australia, however I'd guess that if you could find it over here you'd be looking at an $80 or so bottle, which at that price I'd much rather pick up a Highland Park, Ardbeg, Glenfarclas, Talisker, you get the point. The nose on this whisky is quite nice and interesting, but that initial oak bitterness sort of kills the whisky pleasure for me. Maybe if you were to oxidize the bottle a bit it might lessen that bitterness, but at this stage I'd pass on picking up a bottle of this.

In Canada, I was surprised to see how available this whisky was! Really pleased to have the opportunity to try it...

Nose: Really awesome creamy vanilla, creme brulee nose. Further examination with a few water drops uncovers baked apples like apple pie...Yum! Really entices you to enjoy the subtle sweetness of the nose and explore further to uncover some slight sherry notes and minor spiciness.

Palate: Oh it gets good here! The palate develops rather slowly into a drying, sweet and powerful sherry bomb that coats your whole mouth and involves all the tastebuds! Really nice! and smooth...

Finish: My absolute favorite part. This stuff goes from the sweet palate into a lingering apple pie finish that was only really present in the nose. That awesome sweet apple flavour aftertaste just never goes away! So nice.

This whisky is a tough one to review to. It is very subtle and fresh and for me it's hard to describe. When I am nosing this the first time of the evening I only can think of flowers. Never had such a floral nose. Letting it go and searching for more aromas I definitely get some light peat smoke. There is some caramel and candied light fruits like oranges.

On the palate I get malt, muddy bittersweat tones and nuttiness. This one is light bodied and very dry on the tongue.

The finish hits a bit spicy and salty but it is rather short.

I don't know why, but what I liked most was the first impression of a really beautiful bed of flowers. Unfortunately this fade out really fast. Maybe my nose is weird but I often noticed this fact while nosing and trying to find the first impression again. This is a light summer dram without sharp edges. Nothing remarkable but a solid one.

Fruity flavours with rich depth. A keeper with real taste. Nose won't win any prizes but didn't bother me a jot.

This is a whisky I wouldn't mind buying a dram of in a bar, but I would never pay for a whole bottle. The packaging says "NATURAL COLOUR" but for only being 10 years of age it seems remarkably dark from my point of view. It got a soothing and warm finish that sits perfectly on a quiet afternoon, but nothing too exciting.

I attended a very good class at the LCBO on Highland Single Malts - this was the first we tried. A deep amber colour with a solid body, it had great notes of oak, oatmeal, sherry with some licorice; it even smelled a bit like a hospital corridor (if that makes any sense). Oatmeal again on the tongue, slightly peated, with some caramel and hay with floral notes. Water brought out some more sherry. A short warm finish. Very complex and enjoyable.

The nose reminds me of Clynelish; sweet, fruity, and briny. When I first tasted this stuff I was quite surprised. Very creamy, with spice and honey coming through. The finish is fresh, salty, and vegetal. This doesn't taste anything like I was expecting. A paradoxical dessert scotch.

Dense but flat malts with hints of sherry giving the whisky a sweet touch to it. Complex and pleasurable finish.

Edradour is the smallest distillery in Scotland, a true "Farmhouse" operation, with only one wash still and one spirit still. This distillery only produces 12 casks per week, which are then laid up for 10yrs to produce this whisky. It has a lovely pale straw color, with an ABV of 43%.

Nose: Ripe fruit & honey. Quite an aromatic whisky.

For comparison, M. Jackson describes the nose as follows: "floral, with vanilla, caramel and faint earthy notes."

I should have said "floral", because that is a good description. It definitely has more than just a sweetness to it, but I wouldn't call it caramel. I understand about the earthy notes. It is faint, but it adds a depth to the aroma.

Body: Rich with a good mouth feel.

Palate: A bit creamy, with more of an apple and pear flavor of ripe fruit. There is something in the back, rounding the fruit with a bit of biscuit? Dried apple. A hint of dark chocolate.

Finish: Nice spice on the finish, and seems to linger. A medium-long finish. Slight orange peel. Maybe candied orange peel? Not citrus-like, but just the peel flavor.

I was expecting toffee, caramel, or creme brule. What I got was a candied orange peel with a bit of spice. This is a decent whisky. I could really get used to this one, and enjoy it quite a bit. However, my expectations were not met and therefore I feel a bit disappointed.

This week I’ll be trying a couple expressions from what is called the smallest distillery in Scotland. I’ll begin with their standard bottling of the Edradour 10 Year Old.

The nose, which I find rather closed, reveals mostly woodsmoke, dades and sweet sherry (oloroso?) and something brings soap in a tin to my mind. Complex, to be sure, but I’m not crazy about it.

The whisky is quite oily, but the soapy character returns, accompanied by ginger, sherry and some feisty spices. But also some sulphure that is a bit off-putting. The fruitiness doesn’t quite come through. I’m still not very crazy about this one.

The finish is medium to long, but reveals nothing new. I’m not crazy about it.

I can be short in my conclusion: an unusual malt, surely, but I’m not… you get the picture.

This whiskey looked like honey (or sunlight) swirling around my glass. The nose was full of medul dates, almonds, hot rubber garden hose, sherry notes, a touch of orange zest and wood smoke. The palate was very creamy, with something like sherry or brandy. The alcohol tickles the back of the tongue just before the finish begins. I also got ginger and bananas. The finish was smooth, warm, medium-bodied; not overpowering but not weak. Sweet, creamy notes linger on the back of the tongue.