Review #361 - Edradour 12 Year Caledonia
Edradour is a distillery with a lot of character. Once one of Scotland's smallest distilleries, it produces unpeated spirit, which is branded as 'Edradour,' as well as peated spirit, which goes on to become 'Ballechin.' This distillery uses just about every cask type imaginable, but perhaps the style they're best known for is ex-sherry - that's the case here, with the 12 Year Old unpeated Caledonia.
The Oloroso sherry cask finish is generally 4 to 5 years of the total maturation time for this bottle, meaning that the ex-bourbon period is likely 7 to 8 years; once bottled, this has a strength of 46% ABV, and there's no chill filtering or artificial coloring used.
Edradour 12 Year Caledonia
Scotland/Highland - Single Malt
Current Locally Available Price: USD 99 (2024)
Age Statement: 12 Years
Strength: 46% ABV
Cask Makeup: Ex-bourbon, finished in ex-Oloroso sherry casks
Details: Not chill filtered, no color added
Tasting Methodology: Reviewed 2 times over 7 months; bottles at 60% and 20% fill levels at times of review. Tasted in a nosing glass each time, rested 10-15 minutes
Nose: Rich, full of fruits: dark grapes, red berries, some old-school musty sherry. It leans sweet, though there are soft savory notes as well; at times, hints of earth and charcoal waft through. A somewhat dark complexion, and with time, some sassafras arrives.
Palate: A medium mouthfeel, full of flavor like the nose - an explosion of red fruits, especially raspberry, but also grapes, dark dried fruit like acidic prune, and candied oranges. Very cask-forward; a little musty at times, with hints of pepper and root beer, too.
Finish: Medium-long, with acidic dark fruits taking over in the finish - prunes, cranberries. Juicy, and we still get some orange and raspberry hints... there's some mildly spicy oak now, as well as cinnamon. The aftertaste continues with cherry cordial.
Final Note: Very tasty, and very cask-dominated. That isn't necessarily a bad thing, if you're in the market for a sherry bomb - this fits that definition well, full of fruits and a little bit of barrel spice. We did like those hints of cinnamon and acidity in the background - they added a nice balancing factor against the mountain of sweet red fruit.
In terms of value, this one is decent; actually, in a lot of markets, it's great value, but in our area, it's a bit more expensive. Compared to a lot of other 12 year single malt Scotches on the market, this has a price premium of $20 to $30; then again, it brings more flavor than most of those competitors, too.
Our Average Rating: 7.3 / 10
In the current whisky landscape of increasing prices and variable quality, we've added a value rating to our reviews that relates to the score and the available pricing of each whisky. This roughly equates to a 0-10 scale; no reviews so far have exceeded a score of 10, although it is technically possible for the formula to produce a value rating higher than 10 with a high enough score and low enough price.
Value Rating: 6.37
About Us: We're a husband and wife review team living in the Midwest United States. Generally, our reviews and tasting notes will be a compilation of both of our experiences with a whisky over several tasting sessions.
Check out our other Edradour reviews:
Review #319 - Edradour 10 Year Super Tuscan Single Cask
