The Other Ts: Tomintoul 14 year old (2014)

In yesterday's review of Tomintoul 16yo I wrote, "Tomintoul waters almost all of their whiskies down to 40%abv".  This includes their 10yo, 16yo, 21yo, 27yo, and even their 36y distilled in 1976.  That means they can accurately label themselves "the gentle dram" because there's a lot of water in their whisky.  A company will do whatever it wants with its products, but it's seems a shame to soak a product that took so long to produce and mature, like the 36yo.

A few years ago, Tomintoul suddenly plopped two single malts with 46%abvs into the middle of their range, a 12yo Port Wood finish and a regular 14 year old.  The company continued their good habit of keeping their prices down, so rather than charging a premium for the quality presentation, both bottles were priced less than the 16yo in Europe.  It does look like the 14 is more expensive in the US though, if you can actually find it.

I picked up a mini of the 14yo while making a gift shop stop in the Western Highlands last month.  Last week, I tasted this whisky alongside the 40%abv 16yo Tomintoul (which was also bottled in 2014).  Let's see how this uncolored, unfiltered Tomintoul tastes.

Distillery: Tomintoul

Ownership: Angus Dundee Distillers

Region: Speyside (Livet)

Type: Single Malt Whisky
Age: minimum 14 years

Maturation: ex-bourbon casks, I think
Bottling year: 2014

Alcohol by Volume: 46%
Chillfiltered? No
Caramel Colored? No

NEAT
They're not BSing about the lack of added colorant.  The whisky's color is lighter than pinot grigio.  The nose is more nude than the 16's.  Lots of barley and fresh herbs.  Basil candy.  Slightly floral.  A toffee-like note floats in and out.  With time in the glass, the nose picks up a vanilla bean note and the flower blossoms get stronger.  Some fun notes of grape candy and lemon cleaner appear.  Lots of not-so-gentle heat in the palate.  There's a big roasted barley note that reads almost like coffee beans.  There are some white peppercorns, along with hints of caramel and butter.  The caramel note grows with time, as does a notebook paper note.  More heat in the dry finish.  Peppercorns and vanilla.  Not much else.  Reminiscent of a Canadian blend.

WITH WATER (~40%abv)
Moments of lime candy and peaches in the nose now.  Barley and a sugary glaze.  The palate has a sharper bite; bitterer with more pepper.  More caramel, less malt.  Nillas.  A pre-distillate wash note appears after a few moments.  It finishes lightly sweet.  Corn syrup, wash, peppercorns, and Nillas.  A better, more herbal bitter note than the palate's.  Still sort of Canadian-ish.

COMMENTARY:
This feels younger than its stated age, but not in a bad way.  The barley and blossoms and herbs and wash are a nice experience, for those of us who dig that sort of thing.  Like the 16, there's something quirky going on late in that palate, but it's less of a deal breaker here.  The nose is the best part, and if the palate had matched it, I'd happily recommend this whisky and then go find a bottle for me.  It finishes unremarkably as well, like (as I mentioned above) a Canadian blended whisky.  Because I like this flair-free presentation, I would recommend this over the 16, especially if you find it priced less than its thinner older sibling.  But overall, I think I'm done with Tomintoul for the time being.  Onto another one of the Ts...

Availability - Short supply in the US, easier to find in Europe
Pricing - $60-$80 (US), $40-$60 (Europe, minus VAT, w/o shipping)
Rating - 82

The Other Ts: Tomintoul 16 year old (The Re-Review!)

I'll be taking a short break from the Scotland 2016 series as I structure the remaining posts.  In its place this week, I'll be taking a look at The Other 'T' Distilleries.  Who are the other T's?  Not Talisker, who gets all the love, and plenty of action on this site.  Hell, there's going to be another Taliskravaganza in 2017.  Not big ol' Tomatin, since I just did a week of Tomatin stuff recently.  And not Tobermory, who has been getting some serious love recently due to the success of their heavily-peated single malt, Ledaig.  I'm talking about the other guys.

---

First up is Tomintoul, a medium-sized Speyside distillery that's been around for all of fifty-one years.  They had six different owners, including a former Hitler Youth, in their first thirty five years.  It's been sixteen spins around the sun since Angus Dundee PLC took over and they haven't given up the reins yet.  The Malt Whisky Yearbook states (on page 173) that Tomintoul's 10, 14, 16, and 21 year old single malts are all kosher-certified.  If true, then these whiskies were all aged in ex-bourbon casks, unless they dug up some kosher sherry barrels somewhere.  For devout Jews who keep strictly kosher, the moment whisky touches a barrel that held non-kosher wine, it violates the Kashrut (kosher laws).  Now why wine made by goyim is considered not kosher, while whisky made by goyim can be is something you'll have to ask someone else.  I do not keep kosher, so bring on the Pancetta cask Caol Ila (redundant!)!

There are two Tomintouls I'm reviewing this week and I tried them side-by-side.  Today, it's the 16 year old.  It's true reviewed this whisky almost five years ago, for my third-ever whisky blog post.  I gave the whisky 90 points.  Please don't read that review.  Read this one instead.

My own bottle!
Sample taken from about this spot.

Distillery: Tomintoul

Ownership: Angus Dundee Distillers

Region: Speyside (Livet)

Type: Single Malt Whisky
Age: minimum 16 years

Maturation: ex-bourbon casks only (confirmed)
Bottling year: 2014

Alcohol by Volume: 40%
Chillfiltered? Yes
Caramel Colored? Yes

NEAT
Its color is of filtered apple juice.  The nose is grassy and very malty.  Big notes of anise and butterscotch sing throughout.  Smaller notes of spearmint leaves, cotton, cherry Jolly Ranchers, confectioner's sugar, and cucumber skin mingle and peek out here and there.  The palate holds apples, pears, and cracked black peppercorns.  Mild notes of vanilla and tart berries sit in the midground.  It becomes bit drying and picks up a quirky bitter note after 20 minutes in the glass.  It finishes tangy and lightly sweet with vanilla and malt.  A little bit of that bitterness too.

Though that already felt a little light, let's do what the blenders do (supposedly) and water it down further to see if it swims.

WITH WATER (~30%abv)
The nose's anise note expands further, making this feel Sambuca-ish at first.  Then comes some whole wheat crackers, mint, barley, and maybe even a little yeast.  The palate is very blendy with vanilla, sugar, and pepper, but no fruit.  Some bitter oak rolls in and stays through the finish, joined by citrus and vanilla.

COMMENTS:
Like Diageo's Singleton series, Tomintoul 16 really is a single malt for blend drinkers, because it tastes like a blend.  It can be compared favorably with the always smooth Chivas 18.  What Chivas 18 has that this malt lacks are the fruit notes (courtesy of Longmorn and Strathisla?).  Meanwhile the Tomintoul has a not-always-enjoyable bitter note which feels too oaky, while the Chivas does not.  Take away that bitter thing, and this makes for an unremarkable but wholly drinkable single malt.

It's a shame Tomintoul waters almost all of their whiskies down to 40%abv.  It would be interesting to try this one at 46%-48%abv, but I believe it'll still have a lot of youth to it, feeling younger than its 16 years, even at that strength.  What this whisky does have going for it is its price (as of today), selling for less than $50 in a few of the The States, and less than $60 in most places.  A 16yo for less than $60?  Yep, but you're going to get what you pay for.

Availability - Many specialty retailers
Pricing - $45-$70
Rating - 81 (neat only)

Single Malt Report: Glenlivet 33 year old 1981 Signatory for K&L Wine Merchants, cask 9459

Let's finish off this three-fer with one last big hit.  Much older than the previous two whiskies, 33 vs 19 vs 19, this Glenlivet comes from a refill sherry cask rather than a first fill.  And it's from a hogshead, rather than a butt.  A hogshead holds approximately half the volume of a butt, so there's more oak-to-spirit contact but since this is a refill it'll be interesting to see if that balances out the cask influence.

Ah ha! An actual bottle pic.

Like Wednesday's whisky, this Signatory was sold exclusively through K&L Wine Merchants.  The hoggie's bottle count is down to 115, so either this cask was split with another retailer or the angel's did some fair work over 33 years.

Like Wednesday's whisky there aren't many reviews online (aside from LAWS this time). Again, there's no listing for it in Whiskybase.  On a curious note, casks 9454 (34yo) and 9463 (33yo) are from the same distillation year (one with the same distillation date) have the same exact ABV.  What's the chance of that happening?  Is it a conspiracy or totally meaningless?  I'll go with the latter.....for now.  ;-)

As with the 29yo Longmorn I reviewed in June, this sample came into my possession via my installation as the substitute LA Scotch Club host for the K&L Strikes Back event at Lost Property in Hollywood on April 10th.  It was the most desired whisky that evening.  I'm first trying it now.

And, of course, a sample pic.

Distillery: Glenlivet
Ownership: Pernod Ricard
Independent Bottler: Signatory
Age: 33 years (November 5, 1981 - July 8, 2015)
Maturation: refill sherry hogshead
Cask#: 9459
Bottle count: 41 of 115
Alcohol by Volume: 51.1%
Chillfiltered? No
Caramel Colorant? No
Exclusive to: K&L Wine Merchants

Its color is a dark orange gold, the lightest tone of the three whiskies.  The nose starts off with molasses chews, York Peppermint Patties, orange peel, and toffee pudding.  A slight seaweed note wafts in sometimes.  There are baked pears (a la old Calvados Domfrontais), sugar cookies, and perky fresh ginger.  After 30+ minutes in the glass, it picks up cherry liqueur and a subtle mizunara-like sandalwood note.  The palate is very pleasant at this strength, so I won't be adding water.  There are cherry candies and mango candies balanced by bitter baking chocolate.  Fresh raspberries, coffee beans, and a mild oak note.  After 30 minutes, the palate gains a lovely orange note and some of the nose's cookies.  It finishes with lollipops, strawberry jello, maraschino cherries, and bitter chocolate.  A moment of the good orange note too.  It more spicy than sweet, really, overall.  After a lot of time in the glass, the bitterness grows and some American oak shows up.

Winner Winner Whisky Dinner!  As good as the nose's notes may sound, I think the palate's even better.  It's merely very good until the oranges and cookies jump in, and then...yeah.  It never reads as a sherry bomb, so the refill choice served the whisky very well.  There's a grace in its age that one can't fake by trying to squeeze in more oak over a shorter period of time.  I'm guessing that American oak was used for the hogshead, which is not a problem.  I do think the wood eventually gets a bit invasive in the finish after awhile, keeping this thing from soaring even higher.  But it's a still an excellent cask and a great selection by K&L.

Availability - Sold out
Pricing - $400
Rating - 91

Single Malt Report: Glenlivet 19 year old 1995 Signatory for Binny's, cask 166947

The Glenlivet three-fer started out oddly yesterday.  In order to get some perspective, I tried that whisky alongside this one, which highlighted the differences between the two.  Though this is also a 19 year old first fill sherry butt of Glenlivet from Signatory's warehouses, it's its own creature.

This single cask was sold exclusively through Binny's, of Chicago fame.  Rather, it IS being sold at Binny's and remains in stock as of today.  This sample comes from the bottle purchased by My Annoying Opinions, as seen in his own review.  Thanks, MAO!

Distillery: Glenlivet
Ownership: Pernod Ricard
Independent Bottler: Signatory
Age: 19 years (1995-2015)
Maturation: first fill ex-sherry butt
Cask#: 166947
Alcohol by Volume: 58.3%
Chillfiltered? No
Caramel Colorant? No
Exclusive to: Binny's

NEAT
It's the color of Willett rye, a good color.  The nose is dense, tough to sort out at first.  Sort of reminds me of Elijah Craig Barrel Proof bourbon for a few moments, also a positive thing.  Plenty of dark chocolate, cigar tobacco, soy sauce, burnt cherries, mint leaves, and honey.  Whereas yesterday's whisky was hotter than expected, today's nose shows less ethyl than anticipated.  Toffee, honey, and molasses.  Cherry cordials, almonds in dark chocolate.  Not sweet, but calmly dry.  Its long finish has chocolate, walnuts, dry sherry, and a little bit of tangy acidic citrus.

WITH WATER (~46%abv)
The nose clears up a bit, starting with sherry that's short on fruit, but big on nuts.  Um, good writing?  Then cocoa, tobacco, wood smoke, and a hint of prunes.  The palate is spicier, and more peppery, followed by black cherry gelato and an herbal digestif.  It finishes fruiter than before, with some fresh stones fruits (from the spirit?).  Toffee, bitter smoke, tart rhubarb?

It keeps on tickin' at that strength.  How about a little more water?

WITH WATER (~40%abv)
The nose still pretty big.  More stone fruit and flowers.  Tobacco and leather.  The palate reminds me of a younger Glenfarclas.  Dry sherry, dried cherries.  Milk chocolate, black pepper, tart berries.  The sweetness remains in check.  The finish still has a good length.  Very dry, woody, and peppery now.

SOME MORE WORDS:
While yesterday's Glenlivet was full of tongue stripping tannic dryness, today's Glenlivet's dryness comes from the sherry, rendering it more palatable.  It's a solid sherry cask whisky that will appeal to those of us with dry preferences.  Nothing about it really wowed me, but it was much better than its dancing partner.  What did impress was how well it took to water, and that probably wins it a couple more points.  Ultimately my opinion of the sits somewhere between MAO's and WhiskyMusings's.

Availability - Exclusively at Binny's
Pricing - $120
Rating - 86

Single Malt Report: Glenlivet 19 year old 1996 Signatory for K&L Wine Merchants, cask #83265

Though I just did two posts about Edradour distillery, I won't be doing any Edradour whisky reviews this week.  I have no Edradour or Ballechin samples with me because 95% of my sample collection lives in another state (for just a few more weeks!).  But I do have three sherried Glenlivet samples bottled by Signatory!  (For those not in the know, Signatory Vintage owns Edradour Distillery.)

Each of these three sherried Glenlivets were sold exclusively through an American retailer. This first one was sold via K&L Wine Merchants.  I think K&L has had at least five ex-sherry Glenlivet casks from Signatory over the past few years with this cask (I think) being the most recent one.

My sample comes from an OC Scotch Club event I hosted last year.  I didn't try it at the event, so this is my first poke at it.

Distillery: Glenlivet
Ownership: Pernod Ricard
Independent Bottler: Signatory
Age: 19 years (May 20, 1996 - September 30, 2015)
Maturation: first fill ex-sherry butt
Cask#: 83265
Bottle count: 127 of 521
Alcohol by Volume: 50.9%
Chillfiltered? No
Caramel Colorant? No
Exclusive to: K&L Wine Merchants
(Also to note, I tried this side by side with the whisky from tomorrow's review.)

NEAT
Its color is the darkest of the three whiskies this week.  The nose leads with toffee and caramel.  Then a mix of plum wine, dried currants, and creme de cassis.  Furniture polish, Cow Tales candy, and raisins.  Meanwhile the palate is hotter than I expected from the ABV.  It's floral, mouth drying, and tannic.  Some cherry candy, though more burnt butter and halvah.  It finishes with a little bitter coffee.  No, wait.  Bitter green oak.  A curious amount of vanilla meets a slight sourness.  Lots of heat and tannins.

WITH WATER (~40%abv)
The water blends all the parts together in the nose.  The sherry notes eventually come forward, while the oak is in the midground, and the spirit sleeps in the back.  Dried berries, caramel, orange peel, and burlap/hessian.  The palate is floral and bitter.  Strange combo.  Very bitter oak, sour lemons, with some mild oloroso notes in the background.  The finish is bitter, sour, floral, and long.

SOME MORE WORDS:
Though I find Signatory to the most reliable indie bottler when it comes to quality, they're not perfect, nor should anyone expect them to be.  (Though I have to say they're still batting about .900 for me.)  There was a '92 Strathmill that's one of the blandest whiskies I've tried.  One of K&L's single cask Imperials was much too soapy for me.  And then there's this Glenlivet.

Thanks to the fruits, the nose was enjoyable and vibrant.  It had me anticipating the palate would be similar.  The palate was not even remotely similar.  And the finish was unpleasant.  With water, the palate and finish actually got worse, leading me to spill the final sip down the sink.  My senses tell me the sherry butt was made from American oak, as the caramel, butter, and vanilla are plenty loud.  That's not a bad thing, it's actually pretty common.  But something feels cockeyed about this cask, with the aggressive tannins and bitterness in the mouth to the somewhat low ABV for the whisky's age.  What saves the whisky overall is that I found no oak problems in the good nose, and the whole thing works better when neat.

Once again, there's a dearth of reviews for this cask, something I often find with K&L exclusives.  It seems like Sku, MAO, Jordan, and I are the only bloggers who post reviews of their stuff.  Anyone else?  There isn't even an entry for this whisky in Whiskybase.  I bring this up because I wonder if anybody found this tannic/bitter issue.  So I ask you, my lovely readers, to weigh in via the comment section below.  Am I crazy (about this particular thing)?

Availability - Sold out
Pricing - $90
Rating - 75 (neat only, 5-10 points lower with water)

The Signatory Tasting Bar at Edradour Distillery

Yesterday, I left you off here:

I enjoyed visiting Edradour and appreciated the very good tour given by Helen (whom I recommend if you have a choice of guides).  And since Edradour was actually my first distillery stop on this trip, it was nice starting small.  But really, really, I was there for Signatory.

To make a long story one paragraph short, my first two experiences with independently bottled cask strength scotch came from Signatory bottles.  And it was a couple years later, when I set foot in Royal Mile Whiskies and saw a zillion (back in the day!) Signatory bottlings on the shelves, and then purchased two for myself, that I was forever warped.  It's thanks to Signatory that I'm here typing this post.  To this day, I find the quality of Signatory's single casks to be the most reliable in the independent bottling scene.  And often the most reasonably priced.  So, yes, while it was exciting to see one of Signatory's warehouses, it was more thrilling to attend their tasting bar.

Located just up the walkway from the visitor center, the bar is located in one of the many small white houses on site.  I don't know if one has to buy a tour ticket to go to the bar or if there's a fee if one doesn't attend a tour, but since I paid £7.50 for a tour I was led to the bar upon my arrival.

Because I'm a fool, or rather because I was somewhat distracted, I don't have a photos of the bar.  There are three, maybe four dozen, Signatory single casks available to try, along with another couple dozen Edradour/Ballechins as well.  Yes, one must pay for the 25mL(-ish) pours, and pay in cash, but the prices are the lowest you'll pay for a pour of this stuff.  Nothing I tried cost as much as the tour ticket.  And there were some deceased distillery bottles to taste for a bargain.  But I wasn't there to experiment.  I arrived with a plan. There were whiskies I wanted to buy, but I wanted to try them first.

Ben Nevis 22yo 1991 sherry butt #2382, 58.3%abv -- Signatory has gotten the reputation for having cornered the market on excellent Ben Nevis sherry casks from 1991 and 1992.  And, yep, this one was stellar, somehow balancing the massive oddly musty fruity almost smoky Ben Nevis spirit with a wallop of sherry drenched European oak.  Someday I'll have more notes on this one, because I bought a bottle.

Blair Athol 25yo 1988 refill sherry butt #6914, 56.8%abv -- Signatory also seems to have a whole flock of 1988 Blair Athol sherry casks sitting in their warehouses.  These releases, along with those from The Ultimate which come from the same warehouses, have helped make Blair Athol kind of a thing for some whisky geeks.  This cask was fascinating, especially after the Ben Nevis.  Though the oak gave the whisky plenty of dark color, it was surprisingly reserved in its influence.  Lots of good, comparatively young, spirit glowed through.  Water thickened and improved the whisky.  I resisted buying this very good whisky because the Ben Nevis blasted my socks off and I predicted there would be a number of other bottles accumulated once I went to *whisper it* Campbeltown.

Deep thoughts

Ledaig 10 year old 2005 first fill sherry butt #900145, 54.6%abv -- Reputation, reputation, again.  Young Ledaig has picked up a considerable following over the past two years, partially because it's proven to be pretty good and partially because a certain influential whisky reviewer keeps calling it The New Ardbeg.  This has resulted in very young Ledaig selling for almost Kilchoman-esque prices.  I'm a Ledaig Hipster, myself, having liked it before it was cool and still like the stuff from the less-sexy weirder period of the '80s and '90s.  Anyway, I was looking forward to this Ledaig and found myself disappointed.  It was indeed a big and peaty whisky.  But it showed nearly no character beyond "big and peaty".  It was sub-Uigeadail and very-sub-Benromach 100 Proof.  Water didn't open it up, nor did air.  It's not a bad whisky, it's just that it has a lot of competition at its price point (and below), and I'd rather just buy two bottles of the official 10 year old instead.

Ballechin 13 year old 2003 single port cask #221, distillery exclusive, 58.6%abv -- When I asked our guide Helen -- more of a fan of Ballechin than Edradour -- if they had any bottles of the excellent Ballechin Discovery Series Port Cask on hand, she said no.  Before my shoulders could droop in disappointment, she directed me to a distillery-only bottle.  I said something like "Holy Fudge" and then repeated it when I was informed that the tasting bar had it as well.  Back at the tasting bar, I tried it next to the above Ledaig 10yo sherry cask and there was no competition.  Like the Ledaig, the Ballechin was "big and peaty", but it was also rich and multi-faceted, it swam well, and was frankly "bigger and peatier".  And £20 cheaper.  Sold.

The Visitor Center

I ended the drinking experience here because, with the two tour drams, I'd consumed 5-6 servings of alcohol over a two hour period.  My judgement would be dulled beyond this point.  And I would make for an obnoxious passenger for the next three hours of car travel if I pursed additional whisky.

Happy pricing news: These four pours plus two bottles of water came out to less than £25, less than one glass of Highland Park 18yo at a Los Angeles bar.  So I highly recommend the tasting bar to geeks and casual drinkers, to those with a plan and those without.

Sad pricing news: It's a little difficult to recommend purchasing bottles at the distillery because Edradour's visitor center does not participate in the VAT refund scheme.  So technically, if one was able to find the above bottles in a UK shop while traveling, they would be cheaper.  For high priced bottles, it would likely be a better deal to buy them at a UK shop and have them shipped back to the US (or most other countries).  But in this case, that Ballechin is sold only at the distillery, and that specific cask of Ben Nevis is sold out everywhere else, and thus I bought them.  We tell ourselves stories in order to live.

The Edradour Distillery Tour

Pitlochry is home to Signatory Vintage Scotch Whisky Company Limited.  And wouldn't you know, our drive from Edinburgh to Drumnadrochit was going to take us through Pitlochry -- or at least I was going to make sure it did.  Heh heh heh hehhhhhh.

Er, since my lovely wife Kristen is one of three people who will see this post, may I clarify that the quickest and most direct route between Edinburgh and Drumnadrochit does in fact run through Pitlochry.  :o)

Signatory Vintage isn't just my favorite independent bottler, it's also the owner of Edradour distillery, producers of Edradour (unpeated) and Ballechin (peated) single malt.  Getting to the distillery is a little more exciting than Google Maps or a car's crappy GPS will lead one to believe.  Rather than just scooting into Pitlochry from the A924, one must take a tiny one lane (WATCH OUT!) winding country road north.  I've been told it's a beautiful drive, but I didn't notice since I was behind the wheel, watching every turn for four-legged or four-wheeled creatures.

Just as Edradour brags, their distillery is in fact tiny and cute, with a number of small white house-like structures containing most of its facilities, like this:

But due to the popularity of the peated Ballechin, the distillery has to expand.  So they're building an identical (or as identical as possible) second stillhouse in order to double their production.

That morning, our tour group of about a dozen folks had the awesome Helen as our guide.  Helen grew up on a farm next to the distillery, so this was her territory, she knew all the things.  Like some of us, she rightly prefers the Ballechin to their unpeated stuff.

Our first stop was at a little tour/party room where we were given two 25mL drams while we watched an official Edradour video.  Honestly, if Helen's your tour guide then then video is redundant.  She'll tell you everything in the video and more.  What's more important are the two whiskies: one unpeated and one peated:

Edradour 10 year old, 40%abv (unpeated) -- It's like a yeasty eau de vie, full of porridge notes, and maybe a little bit of toffee.  Its thin mouthfeel doesn't help it one bit as it comes across as a watered-down minor-league barely-legal Tobermory.  While I'm not the biggest fan of all the wine cask versions of Edradour, perhaps those casks do give the whisky a boost.

Ballechin Bourbon Cask, 46%abv (peated) -- Dark, mossy, herbal peat meets coffee, mint leaves, and berry candy.  It's hard to believe this comes from the same distillery as the other whisky.  At first I thought this was the Ballechin 10yo; if so then it was much better than I'd remembered.  Turns out, it was their Discovery Series #6 release: Ballechin Bourbon Cask.  And, yeah, it's better than the 10, and it's likely three or four years younger.  Because it was released 5 years ago, good luck finding it for less than $99.99 today.

It was nice to have drinks before a tour started, for a change.  It sort of oils the gears for the distillery experience.

Allegedly, Edradour ("Land between two waters" in Gaelic) distillery doesn't use computers.  Everything is done by hand, and (paper!) notebooks are filled with data.  They stopped using their malting floors in 1973 and now source both their peated and unpeated malt from Inverness.  That peated (50-55ppm after drying) malted barley is destined to become Ballechin, properly pronounced "bah-LAY-hin".

One of the distillery's interesting quirks is this:

It is a Morton's Refrigerator.  When the wort (malted barley grist that has been steeped in water in order to get the starches turned into sugars) comes out of the mash tun, it must be cooled so that yeast can then be added for the fermentation process.  If the wort is too hot, the yeast will die.  Today most distilleries (and many breweries) use a counter-flow chiller which utilizes cold water -- the cold water is warmed while the wort is cooled.  In 1934 the Morton's was installed at Edradour to cool their wort.  After Andrew Symington (Mr. Signatory) bought the distillery, he elected to have a replica Morton's built and installed, rather than going with a counter-flow chiller.  So they're technically using old school technology with a recent build to cool their wort.

That cooled wort goes into one of their two Oregon pine washbacks, where it ferments for 48 hours.

Here's some wash a-percolatin':

That beer then goes to the one 4200L wash still and one 2000+L spirit still for distillation.

Both of these stills are connected to a 100+ year old worm tub system, yet another bit of old school tech, which condenses alcohol vapor back into liquid.

I know the photo sucks, but it's difficult to get a proper photo of copper tubes
since they're submerged in dark brown water.  It looks like earl grey tea with
a disappearing metal snake inside.

Once the spirit is barreled-up, it enters the warehouse.

And this was 'round about the time I started to geek out on this tour, because this warehouse not only serves Edradour distillery, but also Signatory.  And now, some cask photos.

I'm fascinated by the popularity of Edradour distillery, since many sources claim it has 100,000+ visitors per year.  Unpeated Edradour can be a difficult, unfriendly drink even for those of us with many whisky years hanging over our belts.  Aside from the older technology, the tour itself doesn't provide much more education that one cannot get at many other scotch distillery tours (though having a good guide, like Helen, is essential anywhere).  It is a quaint place when compared to the many massive mechanized whisky production facilities around Scotland.  But my guess is folks tend to stop off there because it's on the way from the cities to Speyside and the Northern Highlands.

Yet, why would the same guy who just wrote that heavily qualified praise ever be seen doing this at Edradour distillery?

Tomorrow, The Signatory Tasting Bar.