Hi everyone,
A while ago I posted in r/whiskyporn saying that my French hunt had paid off and this was the reward. A young peated whisky from Edradour, bottled by Signatory.
I’d never really seen any indie Bellechin’s or any Signatory Cask Strength’s this young, so this intrigued me.
Also, I looked it up before buying and couldn’t find anything about this bottling and it wasn’t on whiskybase. More intrigue…
On a bit of a whim I decided to buy it without knowing much about it at all!
Ballechin 2008 Signatory Cask Strength Collection 61.5%
Colour: Light Gold
Body: Medium
Nose: Much lighter than expected, no alcohol. Gristy, peated grist, a light fruitiness, under ripe mango and pineapple, green apple and pear, grilled pineapple and cinnamon. Something sour and lactic after a minute.
Water: The youthful fruit really comes out, young esters, not much peat, lots of banana, banana chewy sweets, watermelon, green apple, pear.
Taste: Big but quite soft actually. Smoke first with peaty grist and malt, then light under ripe fruit, mango and green apple, pear, some citrus coming through with lemon juice and a little salt.
Water: Initially I got more youthfulness, but after some time and finding the right amount of water: Very oily, smoked fish, smoky lemon juice, peated grist, some banana chewy sweets.
Finish: Medium/long length. Slightly smoked lemon juice then more under ripe fruit, green apples.
Distilled 24/09/2008, bottled 10/09/2015, just 2 weeks before becoming 7 years old. From Bourbon barrel 253. This was an exclusive for Nicolas, a French wine shop. It wasn’t the peat bomb I was expecting and the youth really comes across.
Actually, it reminds me of young peated Bunnahabhain.
Although this is good, I paid way too much money for this really at €85. I went for it because it was different, peated and an exclusive. Signatory are normally really good quality too and it’s from their distillery. I’d only tried one Edradour in the past though and had never tried Bellechin before, but we all make mistakes sometimes!
72/100
Thanks for reading!
Scotch Review #344
Whisky Network Review #380
Network Average: 74.6
Best Score: 92
Worst Score: 44
0-49 Terrible
50-59 Bad
60-64 Just About OK
65-69 Ok to Good
70-74 Good
75-79 Very Good
80-84 Excellent
85-89 Superb
90+ Magnificent
Full Disclosure Disclaimer: I currently work as a Brand Ambassador for Penderyn Distillery. The views expressed here are purely my own and do not reflect the views of Penderyn Distillery or The Welsh Whisky Company. I try to maintain as much objectivity as I can but feel free to take my reviews with as big a pinch of salt as you like. Furthermore, my rating scale is NOT based on a Parker type wine scoring scale or a school/college/university % or A-F grade score. I apologise for any seemly low or 'bad' scores given with my system and am sorry I can't say only nice things. Please keep in mind that I am ethically compromised and am unable to produce 100% unbiased reviews.
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