We’ve almost told you everything already but there still is one more story we would like to tell you about our 2016 whiskytrip. It’s about a distilleryvisit we will surely remember. It was the second distillery that day and both were in Pitlochry. First we visited Blair Athol and after a steep climb through the woods we arrive at the Edradour Distillery. We take a deep breath and then it’s time to enjoy!
We enter the shop and are welcomed by two lovely ladies. We tell them about an email which was sent by Jan Beek (Van Wees Holland) mentioning our visit and a few minutes later we start our private tour. (Thank you Jan!)
We get to see every important part of the whiskymaking process. Our guide tells us about the use of around 1000kg’s of malted barley every day. We walk past the mill, have a look at the (and sniff above) the washbacks, have a glance at the small stills and leave the stillroom passing the open mashtun. This device has been in use for over 110 years and still working every day. As we pass it the wort has just been pumped out into one of the washbacks.
Then it’s time to have a look in the warehouses. Not only casks of Edradour and Ballechin (peated spirit made at the distillery) fill the warehouses. Of course not, Edradour is owned bij independent bottler Signatory Vintage. A great variety of distillery’s and ages can be found here, all waiting for the right moment to be bottled. We’re already looking forward to have a look in the shop but not before we taste some of the whisky’s in the visitor center.
We ask our guide which whisky she would recommend to us. Without a doubt she tells us we should absolutely try the, distillery only, 2006 Edradour Super Tuscan Cask Matured. This is a 10yo single cask whisky, bottled at caskstrength (61,0% ABV). The number of the cask is 141 and it produced 291 bottles. We have sniff, a taste and we run off to the shop to be sure we could both buy a bottle… Peter bought a Signatory Vintage Ben Nevis as well and I take home a 23yo Blair Athol home with me. We return to the visitor Center and taste some more whisky’s.
- Edradour Single Cask Sherry cask edition
- Edradour Single Cask Bourbon barrel edition
- Signatory Vintage Ben Nevis
- Signatory Vintage Blair Athol
- Ballechin 11yo Manzanilla cask matured
- Signatory Vintage Laphroaig
- Signatory Vintage Ledaig
Quite a line up don’t you think? We had a great time at Edradour and we both have some very nice bottles to remember this visit by.
