Edradour 10

Edradour 10 - From Scotland's smallest distillery.

I wanted to like this Scotch.  I went to the website and this place is amazingly quaint.  Here are some pictures from the Edradour website:

Just look at those barrels of singlemalt in what appears to be a cement attic!  Very very quaint.  So I really wanted to like this Scotch...a lot.

I had checked out the reviews, and they were extremely consistent in their praise, so I could not wait to buy a bottle on my semi monthly "Scotch Day".  The wife and I conferred.  We agreed.  It was next on the list.

And, while I can say I certainly liked it, it just didn't blow me away the way I had hoped it would.  This is a good Speyside Scotch but it didn't REALLY impress me the way I had wanted it to.

It is mild, and the alcohol is not overwhelming.   Taste is balanced, being neither overly sweet or overly salty.  The taste is not overly strong in any direction, and there is a slight delicate spicy taste.  So I felt that it was good but not remarkably different from many of the other good Scotches that I had tried.

What was interesting is when we served it to a visiting couple.  She generally dislikes Scotch, and he is willing to try what I offer, (but often doesn't like it).  Both of them were VERY impressed with Edradour 10.  He actually said it was the best of the many that I had tested on him.

So,, my summary of Edradour is that some people like it....and some people like it a LOT.

Old Pulteney 12

Old Pulteney is from Wick, Scotland which is right in the north east corner of the Scottish mainland.  There are two distlilleries on Orkney Island to the north (Highland Park and Scapa), but Wick is almost as north as you can go on the Scottish mainland.  The old Pulteney website (www.oldpulteney.com) is interesting and claims that old Pulteney uses techniques that "other distillers have long abandoned"!?  hmmm.  The shape of the bottle reflects the unique shape of the stills they use, which lack a traditional swan neck.

This is a nice reasonably smooth Scotch, slightly more "salty" tasting then the sweeter Speysides I have tried, such as Aberlour.  This Scotch is definitely less sweet and more salty, with a slight sweet note at the end, and a clean finish.

"Salty" isn't a great description.  This does not taste like a bag of potato chips (or crisps for our UK readers).  It is more like an aftertaste....if you put some salt in your mouth and then quickly spit it out and waited thirty seconds.  That taste.  

There is no smokiness or grandiose complexity to this scotch.  For people who do not like sweet scotches, and also don't like smoke, this is a good choice at a reasonable price.