Equilibrium 10 Years is a single malt, but a mix of two styles: Edradour 2010 from a first fill sherry butt + Ballechin 2003 from a refill hogshead. So we have unpeated and peated spirit from the same distillery, with different levels of sherry influence.
It was bottled by Decadent Drinks in their WhiskySponge series, after being selected from the warehouses of Signatory Vintage, which is also the owner of Edradour since 2002.
Equilibrium I 10 yo (52%, Whisky Sponge 2021)
Nose: big hints of cured meats and Cuban cigars, with menthol and hints of pu-erh tea. Tarry ropes. Dried cranberries, burnt raisins and hints of cherry jam in the background. Some herbal / floral notes and graphite as well. It’s smoky but so far the peat is not putting its foot down.
Mouth: now more tarry, with a peppery arrival developing into medicinal notes and slightly bitter herbs. Barbecued bacon. Salty liquorice, dark coffee, walnuts. Mid-palate I get a fruity sourness (cranberries again, maybe dark plums) but it struggles to get out. Then back to cough syrup, eucalyptus and burnt wood. Nothing dirty here, but not exactly easy drinking either.
Finish: long, earthy and peppery, with some syrupy forest fruits and herbal tea. Dry walnut notes in the end.
Somehow my expectations were to find a toned down whisky (peat + no peat must be weaker, right?) but this is still massive. Maybe the peat is less ‘in your face’ but the liquorice, herbs and over-infused tea still place this in the NSFW category (not suitable for wussies)! The successful equilibrium of a rhino and an elephant. Still available from Decadent Drinks.