Edradour 12yo Port Finish ‘Straight from the Cask’

Whisky from Edradour distillery has a, shall we say, subpar reputation. My experiences with their whisky have been mostly good, but there are a lot of people out there who quickly run the other way when offered a dram of Edradour. During a private tasting not too long ago, someone brought an Edradour for us to taste, but he offered it blind. As it turned out, four out of the five people scored it 85 or higher. Some were shocked to find out the identity of the whisky. Tasting whisky blind: always good fun!

Below are my tasting notes of this particular Edradour. I brought a sample back home from the tasting, so that I could spend some quality time with it. It is a really nice port-finished whisky.

Edradour 2001/2013 (56%, OB ‘Straight from the Cask’, Port Finish)

Nose: Super sweet at first with caramel and fudge. Then it gets a tiny bit lighter, lemonade-like, with black berries and strawberries. Also some walnuts, barley and breakfast cereals. There is a faint soapiness, but that doesn’t really distract from all the good aroma’s this whisky has to offer.
Taste: This certainly has been a very active port pipe. The palate is winey almost. Cherry juice, red fruits, strawberry and light caramel. Nutty as well, with a little bit of saw dust.
Finish: Caramel, raspberry, cherries, peanuts and chocolate.

Rating: 86

Sounds very good right? That’s because it is.