AT THE BOTTOM OF THE BARREL – Score: 3/10
One of Scotland’s smallest and most picturesque distilleries presents us with yet another expression, this time matured in a Sauternes wine cask. The use of sweet French wine barrels is not unprecedented—other distilleries, including Arran and Kilchoman, have also experimented with this type of maturation to varying degrees of success. While such choices can bring a welcome layer of complexity, they also carry significant risk.
Sauternes casks are known to be particularly unpredictable and volatile partners in maturation. Their influence can tilt a whisky in one of two directions: either enhancing it with luscious notes of honeyed fruit, or overpowering it with an intrusive woodiness that masks the original character of the distillate. Unfortunately, in this case, we are faced with the latter.
This 2012 Edradour, aged for a full 12 years in Sauternes oak, suffers from an overwhelming dominance of the cask. The influence of the wood is not merely assertive—it is overbearing. Strong, almost abrasive notes of oak and liquorice rise to the fore, effectively drowning out the subtler nuances one might expect from such a lengthy maturation. The alcohol, bottled at a high strength, is not particularly well integrated either, and adds a sharpness that only heightens the overall imbalance of the dram.
The result is a whisky that feels heavy-handed and unrefined, far from the elegance and subtle interplay of flavors that cask finishing, at its best, can deliver. For those who appreciate bold, woody, and intensely structured whiskies, this might still hold some appeal. However, for my palate, this expression lacks finesse, cohesion, and the charm that Edradour has sometimes been capable of delivering in the past.
In short, a disappointing result from a distillery I usually regard with affection.
