Aultmore 14 Years Old PST (Phil & Simon Thompson)

Bottled by Phil & Simon Thompson in 2024 as a 14 year old release of 2008 vintage Aultmore distributed globally at cask strength of 48.5%. Phil and Simon Thompson are the brothers behind Dornoch Distillery and Thompson Bros, with an independent bottling line focused on hand selected single casks at natural strength.

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 14 year on site maturation.

Patient cask interaction 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 48.5%.