Auchroisk 11 Years Old 2010 (SMWS 95.64)

Bottled by the Scotch Malt Whisky Society as cask 95.64 from 2010 vintage Auchroisk, with 213 bottles distributed to members in France at high cask strength of 62%. The Society identifies each release by a numerical code rather than the distillery name, with Auchroisk listed as distillery 95 in the Society's archive.

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 ex-Bourbon American oak with subsequent rum cask interaction.

The ex-Bourbon stage built vanillin from lignin breakdown alongside cis and trans oak lactones, layering vanilla, coconut, and char derived furfural. Rum cask interaction then added a distinct molasses dimension: residual ester compounds including ethyl propanoate carry over from the rum, alongside brown sugar and caramel notes from extended cane spirit aging. The combination integrates with the spirit's light ester profile at 62%.