Aultmore 28 Years Old 1989 Wood Range Sherry Cask (Cadenhead’s)

Bottled by Cadenhead's in 2018 as a 28 year old release of 1989 vintage Aultmore with 156 bottles distributed to the Italian market at 43.4%. Cadenhead's was founded in Aberdeen in 1842 and is the oldest independent bottler in Scotland, now operated by J&A Mitchell of Springbank Distillery.

Distilled at the Aultmore distillery near Keith in Speyside, founded in 1896 by Alexander Edward and owned by Bacardi via John Dewar & Sons since 1998. The wash is made from unpeated plain malted barley with soft Auchinderran Burn water, mashed in a stainless steel full lauter mash tun and fermented for 56 hours in six larch wood washbacks. Aultmore runs the spirit through two wash and two spirit stills of plain pot still shape, with steam heated wash stills and shell and tube condensers giving high copper contact for a light, ester forward Speyside character. The spirit was filled into Oloroso sherry for 28 year on site maturation.

Patient cask interaction across more than two decades drove European oak Oloroso sherry chemistry. Ellagitannins and gallic acid from the European oak build dried walnut and grip, while oxidative aldehydes including acetaldehyde and syringaldehyde develop nutty, leathery rancio. Fermentation derived sotolon adds dried fig and curry leaf, with concentration of glycerol lending body, integrated with Aultmore's underlying light ester signature at 43.4%.