Auchentoshan Limited Edition Bottling 21 Years Old 1988

Bottled by Auchentoshan in 2009 as a Limited Edition 21 year old Bordeaux cask release from 1988 vintage stock, with 1800 bottles distributed to the Polish market at cask strength of 52.4%. The release sits within the distillery's wine cask exploration tier, presenting extended Bordeaux red wine cask maturation across the lighter triple distilled spirit base.

Distilled in 1988 from 100% unpeated malted barley with Loch Cochno water from the Kilpatrick Hills, the wash was fermented around 62 hours across Douglas fir and stainless steel washbacks before triple distillation. Auchentoshan runs every drop through three copper pot stills, with the intermediate and spirit stages collecting at around 81% ABV. The extra copper contact strips sulphur compounds and fusel oils while concentrating ethyl hexanoate, isoamyl acetate, and other light esters, giving a clean spirit base filled into Bordeaux wine casks.

Twenty one years in French oak Bordeaux conditions drove distinctive wine cask character into the lighter triple distilled base. Anthocyanin pigments and tannic ellagitannins from the wine soaked staves bring red berry, dried fig, and grippy tannin, while extended contact with residual wine builds glycerol body and lactic compounds. Subtle gamma butyrolactone development gives soft sweet wood, integrated with the spirit's underlying citrus and almond core at 52.4%.