The modern day Ballechin single malt is produced at Edradour distillery, a tribute to the old Ballechin distillery nearby. Taking on their base spirit and style, Ballechin has a slightly salty quality combined with tree sap and a herbal note. It also takes sweeter, fruity tones from the Oloroso casked whisky. This is all coated in a fresh layer of peaty richness, adding a dry smoky flavour to the dram.
Founded
1837 (Edradour)
Owner
Signatory Vintage
Production Status
Operational
Capacity
95,000 Litres (Edradour)
The original Ballechin distillery was founded by a consortium of farmers in 1810, quite near to where the Edradour distillery now stands. It used mostly peat fires in its malting process, creating quite a peaty highland whisky. The distillery ran for just over a century before the water source for Ballechin was diverted, and the last owner shut down and dismantled the distillery in 1927.
When Edradour was bought by Signatory Vintage in 2002, the distillery was renovated and repaired after severe flooding, and the production was increased to put several different bottlings of Edradour onto the market. As part of this expansion of the range, Signatory started to produce peated malt spirit, and released a peated whisky in 2006, named after the Ballechin distillery.
In the years approaching the release of the Ballechin 10, it has gone through a series of cask finishes, adding an extra level of flavour into the smoky character of the whisky. This began with the Madeira finish in 2007, and culminating in the 10 year old release in 2014.