This Edradour 1995 was a festival bottling for the recent Whisky L! (tenth edition) in Shangai, China. It was finessed in a first-fill Oloroso sherry butt for 13 years.
Edradour 22 yo 1995 (54,2%, OB for Whisky L 2018, Oloroso finish, 661 btl.)
Nose: clean, let’s continue. A really nice, tobacco-led profile, with cigar boxes and leather, old Oloroso and hints of redcurrants. Juicy damsons. Polished oak, hints of menthol and aromatic herbs. Crushed peppercorns and brown sugar.
Mouth: a similar dry and herbal sherry profile, although there’s now a meaty side to it. Blackberry leaves, bitter oranges, charred oak and a thick treacle theme in the background. Burnt brown sugar. Pepper and liquorice. Raisins on rum. Hints of cedar wood. Quite a lot of spiced dark chocolate. A hint of Fernet-Branca as well.
Finish: long, woody, with cough syrup and some tannins.
Quite a heavy, spicy sherry bottling, maybe not for everyone. But for me it’s a complex wintery dram and one of the best Edradours that I’ve tried. Thank you, Derek.
Score: 89/100