Edradour is the last of the so called "farm distilleries" in Scotland and it is also the smallest with just 3 full time employees. Founded in 1825 as a co-op between the local farmers to produce for themselves they started selling the whisky in 1841. Being so small things tended not to change much as they didn't even put in electricity until 1947. In 2002 the independent bottler Signatory bought them and the old stocks breathing a new life into the little distillery and bringing production up to 90,000 liters a year. Compare that to Scotland's largest which produces just under 12 million liters a year! While mostly used in blends for Clan Campbell and House of Lords a surprising large percentage is bottled as Single Malt Scotch. Since the Signatory take over a wide range of finishes are available from the independent bottler including a superlative 10 yo cask strength Burgundy Finish (~$110) along with the official Cask Strength (unavailable in the US) which are the best Edradours available IMO. One should note that all of the "finished" Edradours come in 50CL bottles and not standard 75CL (US) or 70CL (UK) ones.
I had taken my bottle of Edradour out with me for some tasting before the Mr.Peat Opus fire up and while this isn't his type of scotch I made a toast for him anyway. The nose is very similar to Macallan as would be expected since they both use Oloroso sherry casks but has more depth with a spicy clean sensation. Tasting is all pepper and mintiness floating around a sherry wash with bits of fruit in it. The finish, while shorter then I would have liked, maintains it's spiciness in a loosening grip allowing some oak and grain to come through. All-in-all a quite remarkable 10 yo dram that fans of Macallan 10 and 12 should give a try. I'm so confident that you'll like this that if you buy some because of this review and don't like it, I'll take it off your hands at a fair price. (offer limited to 8/26/07 to 12/31/07)
