Ballechin 9 YO 2014 Bourbon Barrel

Highlands, Single Malt – 58.4%, 700ml

Single Cask #492 – Bourbon Barrel

Limited edition of 225 bottles

LMDW Exclusive

Completely renovated in 2018, this historic distillery founded in 1825 is now exclusively reserved for the production of its peated single malt: Ballechin. With a phenol content of 50 ppm Ballechin has become, in just over twenty years, an equal to the greatest single malts from Islay. Aged in a first-fill bourbon barrel, the peat has not been subdued at all in the 9 years it spent maturing. The unfettered notes of fruit, spices ad vanilla sprinkled throughout the flavour and aroma palette are a stunning example.  

Tasting Notes:

Nose: rich, well-developed. Aromas of rich peat and smoked lard appear alongside notes of candied fruit (pear, Mirabelle plum). Allowed to breathe, however, the nose becomes more heady (iris butter, violet). With a pleasant salinity, noble spicy registers (cardamom, clove) then develop.

Palate: lively, dynamic. Drawing out the nose, the flavour palette gradually reveals a peat with more herbaceous tones (lucerne, vervain) and camphor. Chocolate and malting floor flavours then develop. Wildflowers highlight the palate’s rustic side.

Finish: long, rich. The finish brings creamy vanilla flavours and empyreumatic notes of still hot ash. This warm sequence is gradually refreshed with aniseed and menthol. The retro-nasal olfaction is split between the candied fruits found on the nose and the palate’s herbaceous peat.