A Perthshire Stroll

During last night's meeting the members of The Cabinet once again undertook an imaginary walk, this time within Perthshire, in the Highlands whisky region. There were three distillery stops: Aberfeldy, Edradour and Tullibardine. The latter was a stretch of the concept though as to include it in an actual walk one would have to be prepared to trek 50 miles - not impossible for the devotees of the Kennedy March (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kennedy_march), but I think the readers will agree not reasonable if one is to properly enjoy one's whisky as well. Aberfeldy to Edradour does, for the record, make for a lovely Highland hike though.

In any case, on to the scotch.


The Aberfeldy 12 year old is a bargain bottle at $50 here in Manitoba and was a pleasant surprise. It's malty front, back and middle without any complexity to speak of, but by the same token there are no missteps, unpleasant notes or reasons to dislike it. It is well rounded and well crafted, but simple. Sometimes simple is fine. We liked it and we considered it to be a good beginner's scotch. The score came in at 6.1, or just into the "three drams - recommended, must try" category.


Onwards the 12 miles or so then to Edradour in the village of Pitlochry. The Edradour 10 year old cask strength has been mentioned and reviewed in these pages before, but as we had quite a bit left and it fit so neatly in the theme of the evening we thought it worth another try. We were wrong. We didn't like it the first time and we don't like it now. It's burlap-lined pale rose wooden box and it's frequent trumpeting of being the product of Scotland's smallest distillery point to the dead hand of marketing. Edradour makes much of the fact that it has three employees - we suspect that two work in the gift shop. Enough of the unsubstantiated slander though, and on to the tasting notes! In a word: muddled. Edradour is complex in the way a child's upended Lego bin is complex. Having many components but not constructing them in a coherent way is simply chaos. Even some of the wholesalers mark it as "unusual". That it is, but not pleasant. 3.9, or "one dram - not recommended, drink only if nothing else offered".

Finally Tullibardine, and, I am pleased to report, salvation. If one had walked fifty miles it might almost have been worth it. The 20 year old expression of this whisky is a beautifully balanced malt with a silky mouthfeel, strong honey and vanilla oak notes, and a very long, pleasant, finish. Behind these dominant themes are fruit and spice elements that the perhaps more perceptive / imaginative among us can pick up on, but in essence this is just a very fine whisky, which is what it is all about. Score: 7.3, or comfortably high in the "three drams" range.



 It was another marvelous evening with conversation ranging from the upside of dirndls to the downside of pork slapping, with excursions into Boontling in-between. This was all enhanced by excellent cheeses supplied by Michael (hand couriered from California!) and Jason.
Thank you to Ivan for the photographs.

Slainte!