Auchroisk 10 Years Old 2010 Cask #805482 (The Vintage Malt Whisky Co Ltd.)

Bottled by The Vintage Malt Whisky Co. in 2021 as a 10 year old single cask release, drawn from cask 805482 of 2010 vintage Auchroisk with 306 bottles distributed to the European market at cask strength of 56%. The Vintage Malt Whisky Co. is a Glasgow based independent bottler founded by Brian Crook in 1992, with releases focused on small batch single cask Scotch at natural strength.

Distilled in 2010 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 American oak cask.

Ten years in American oak under temperate Speyside conditions drove measured oak extraction. Vanillin from lignin breakdown gave vanilla, cis and trans oak lactones added coconut and sweet wood, and char layer interaction produced furfural with Maillard derived caramelised sugars. Holding 56% across ten years reflects steady evaporative loss, with American oak influence integrating with the spirit's signature light, ester forward profile.