The Edradour 10 Year 2008 Signatory Vintage bottled for The Whisky Barrel

Tasting notes:
The nose on the Edradour 10yo 2008 Signatory Vintage bottled exclusively for The Whisky Barrel opens like a prom corsage made from grapevine flowers, expertly braided with striped birch bark by a practitioner of long repute. (She cut her teeth wrapping mummies for dioramas and her skill is unadulterated, unassailable, and uncanny.) It’s also plummy, as if it’d been fraternizing—but not mixing—with wine, much like a plum/grape juice taken at a Protestant communion in a dry county. There are dollops of caramel fudge, and the color strikes me to be a rich garnet, although I am colorblind as a colorblind bat; I’ve never figured out how to echolocate anything beyond my next glass.

The mouth is, for John the Understated and Abstemious, fierce! He thought it worthy of a cameo in Alan Moore’s V for Vendetta: for him, it was filled with Vim, Vigor, Vivacity, and Verve, the four Vs of Malt Whisky. I see those qualities, too, but rather for me what jumps out is a softness on the tongue, like a Persian cat sprawling on a Persian rug in Persia (naturally). Sure, there are claws, but there are also silkiness, seduction, and sensuousness (together with the softness adding up to the four Ss of Malt Whisky.) There’s fire, which is to be expected, since it’s 117.4 proof! I further got extensions of the plum and grape, some Coriander, some Corey Feldman, and some Corey Haim. It’s rich, gorgeous, and won’t take no for an answer—nor will it answer “yes” unless it wants to, a veritable incarnation of Marvel’s Black Widow as a whisky mouth.

The finish is as pretty as an amethyst, moonstone, and opal-begemmed platinum tiara worn by a 1920s film star. There are tannins muted like a political reformer playing to his god-fearing base, sitting on his hands on a new oak church pew. There’s a huckleberry, rhubarb, blackberry bramble, and wild blueberry tart with an almond flour crust. What’s up with that? I don’t want almond flour—I love gluten! I am the secret Roman emperor Glutinous Maximus! I will conquer the world, one loaf of Roman Meal Bread at a time! What’s that, Stephen? The review? What review? Oh, yes! Sorry.

   

Rating:
On the scale of jolting, bracing hormones–

The Edradour 10 Year 2008 Signatory Vintage bottled exclusively for The Whisky Barrel is adrenaline–Some might say that this dram puts the “dour” in Edradour, but they’re simpletons and ninnies! I am now ready for fight or flight or flights of poetic fancy! Mostly fight, because this dram kicks ass!

   

   

                                                   —Bill

   

   

–Our thanks to The Whisky Barrel for the sample!

 
 

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