Edradour 18 Year Old 1993 Oloroso Cask Strength

I can hardly find any info about this whisky. I tried it at the pre-masterclass at a festival in Belgium under the guidance of distillery owner Andrew Symington. The distillate from 1993 was put to sleep for 18 long years on an oloroso sherry cask. One bottle short of 600 were filled.

Deep sherry on the nose. Dark fruits, bothdry and juicy. Caramelized orange, rums raisins. Strawberry. Almonds. Compote of rhubarb and gooseberries. Very juicy. Butterscotch. Pineapple on the grill. You would be forgiven to confuse this with a GlenDronach, which is quite a compliment. Badmouthers might say this is due to the fact that you hardly recognize the Edradour because of the cask. Adding water gives it something special I cannot quite pinpoint. Garden herbs and mould? But it works wonders.

Spicy and sturdy attack on nutmeg, cinnamon, saffron and even some chili pepper. Underneath a dark sweetness as in the nose, but fairly hot. What did you expect? Nice sherry sweetness with a whiff of orange zest. Wonderful and big. With water, I get hints of cough candy.

Medium long finish, sweet and spicy, making for a grand finale for this wonderful whisky.

I will happily admit: this is a stunning Edradour that proves the Pitlochry distillery has some good whisky, despite the bad rep (that Andrew and his team are combatting for years now, for which they have my admiration). I liked it best without water, but it can easily take a spoonful.

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