My daughters love it when they get to see a WhiskySponge release, but how do you explain these labels…? Here’s one of the latest bottlings, a Ballechin 2005 from the Signatory Vintage stocks.
Ballechin 14 yo 2005 (55%, WhiskySponge 2020, refill sherry hogshead, 302 btl.)
Nose: some pipe tobacco, leather jackets and mentholated notes as well as some varnished top notes. Damp warehouses, soot and flax. Chocolate and Schwarzwalderham in the background. Punchy pepper too. Good start.
Mouth: there’s a darkness of soot and pure chocolate, but also a brighter fruity side. Cherries in booze, brambles, berry eau-de-vie. A little chilli and walnuts. Plenty of tobacco leaves and leather again, mixed with earthy smoke and a little oak char.
Finish: long, with pepper and liquorice, light soy sauce and bitter chocolate.
This Ballechin combines rich sherry notes with a dark, sooty style of peat. Shear power but never flying out of the bend. Really nice – in the same ballpark as the recent Ballechin 2003 for TWE. I’m starting to like Edradour… 2020 is a crazy year indeed. Sold out, I believe.