Aultmore 12 Years Old 2011 Cask #900074 (Whisky Druid)

Bottled by Whisky Druid in 2023 as a 12 year old single cask release drawn from cask 900074 of 2011 vintage Aultmore with 281 bottles distributed to the German market at high cask strength of 58.3%.

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 a single ex-Bourbon American oak with Pedro Ximenez finish cask for 12 year on site maturation.

The combination maturation drove layered character. The American oak stage built vanillin from lignin breakdown alongside cis and trans oak lactones, with vanilla, coconut, and char derived furfural. The sherry stage then added European oak ellagitannins and gallic acid for dried walnut and grip, alongside oxidative aldehydes including acetaldehyde and syringaldehyde driving nutty, leathery rancio. Fermentation derived sotolon adds dried fig, with glycerol carryover for body, integrated with Aultmore's light ester signature at 58.3%.