Auchroisk 15 Years Old 2006 Cask #5751 (Alistair Walker Whisky Company)

Bottled by Alistair Walker Whisky Company in 2021 as a 15 year old single cask release, drawn from cask 5751 of 2006 vintage Auchroisk with 286 bottles distributed to the European market at high cask strength of 59.1%. Alistair Walker is the eponymous independent bottling project of the former managing director of BenRiach, Glendronach, and Glenglassaugh, founded in 2017.

Distilled in 2006 at the Mulben distillery built by Justerini & Brooks in 1974, the wash was made from 100% unpeated malted barley with soft Dorie's Well water and fermented for around 53 hours in stainless steel washbacks. Auchroisk runs the spirit through four wash and four spirit stills with constricted lyne arms, encouraging high reflux that returns heavier compounds back to the pot. Shell and tube condensers give further copper contact, stripping sulphur compounds, with the spirit collected at around 70% ABV and filled into a single Sauternes wine cask.

Fifteen years in French oak Sauternes conditions drove distinctive sweet wine character into the lighter Speyside base. Botrytised Semillon and Sauvignon Blanc residues bring concentrated monosaccharides for honey and dried apricot, while botrytis derived sotolon adds subtle curry leaf and fenugreek. Gamma butyrolactone from the French oak gives soft sweet wood, integrated with the spirit's underlying light ester signature at 59.1%.