Review by: dustbunna
Looking for specific Edradour reviews online is truly the deep end of the whisky nerd pool, and a good exercise in patience. Why? For such a tiny distillery, Edradour releases a boggling number of different expressions for different markets, many of which are similar age but finished in different ways or released as single casks. Furthermore, they’re owned by Signatory, and there are also a glut of Edradours in a similar age range released under the bottler’s Un-Chill-Filtered line, some of which use the standard Signatory labeling and still others which feature a bespoke hybrid-Edradour/Signatory label. Navigating all that becomes rather a mess if you’re trying to tease these things apart while living an ocean away.
To clarify, this is the bog-standard Edradour 10, the ‘Distillery Edition’ entry-level release, which admittedly isn’t nearly as exciting on paper as the other Edradours, but does come in a 200mL bottle, which means I can dip my toes in without much investment while also researching the other various releases available. It’s matured in a mix of ex-bourbon and ex-Oloroso-sherry casks.
Distillery: Edradour.
Bottler: Distillery bottling.
Region: Highlands.
ABV: 40%.
Age: 10 years. Bottled in 2019.
Cask type: Vatting of ex-bourbon and ex-Oloroso sherry casks.
Price: $18 USD (200mL bottle).
Natural Color. Chill-filtered.
Bottle open across approx. 2 months, notes taken leisurely across that period. Bold notes taken beneath the shoulder, regular-formatted notes taken further into the bottle past the halfway point, italicized notes taken towards the heel.
Nose: Sprite, mixed hard candies, red fruit leather, shoe leather, red licorice, minerals.
Palate: medium-thin body ~ strong sherry presence with baking spices, hints of red fruits, cinnamon, earth, goes a bit funkier with a bit of menthol, cherry Chloraseptic begins to take over, flattening the other notes.
Finish: medium length ~ some warmth, mint, wood spice, cherries, more clinging cherry Chloraseptic, fades a bit with some dustiness.
Conclusion: It’s a good thing that there are so many intriguing Edradours out there to explore, because I just wasn’t connecting with this one beyond the nose. This started off promising in the funky-sherry vein, and has a surprising amount of flavor for 40%. However, I was taken aback by the pancaking of flavors on the palate and finish as the fill level dropped, turning into little but vague memories of cough spray, and losing the nuances it had at first in the process. The dustiness in the finish after some time is also disappointing. I poured the heel alongside a dram of Evan Williams Bottled-in-Bond, which also has a strong cherry-mint character (which I really don’t love anyway), and the Edradour read kind of like a pale shadow of it in the palate and finish. I can get a full 750mL of EW for less than what I paid for this 200mL bottle– if I want to explore that space, I really don’t need to pay the single malt Scotch premium. All that said, this is the only 40% and chill-filtered option from Edradour, and there’s certainly potential in there…. I’m hopeful that by a stroke of un-luck I found the weakest link in the distillery’s chain of offerings, and what I try from them going forward can only improve.
Final Score: 60.
Scoring Legend:
- 95-100: As good as it gets. Jaw-dropping, eye-widening, unforgettable whisky.
- 90-94: Sublime, a personal favorite in its category.
- 85-89: Excellent, a standout dram.
- 80-84: Quite good. Quality stuff.
- 75-79: Decent whisky worth tasting.
- 70-74: Meh. It’s definitely drinkable, but it can do better.
- 60-69: Not so good. I might not turn down a glass if I needed a drink.
- 50-59: Save it for mixing.
- 0-49: Blech.
Malt Runners 