Auchroisk 12 Years Old 2007 Cask #816839 (Lady of the Glen)

Bottled by Lady of the Glen in 2020 as a 12 year old single cask release, drawn from cask 816839 of 2007 vintage Auchroisk with 265 bottles distributed to the European market at cask strength of 56.3%. Lady of the Glen is a small Scottish independent bottler founded by Gregor Hannah of Hannah Whisky Merchants, focused on hand selected single cask releases at natural strength.

Distilled in 2007 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 Pedro Ximenez sherry cask.

Twelve years in Pedro Ximenez European oak conditions drove intense oxidative chemistry into the lighter Speyside base. Ellagitannins and gallic acid from the European oak build dried walnut and grip, while extended fermentation residues drive high concentrations of sotolon, lending dried fig, raisin, and dark molasses. Glycerol carryover from the sweet sherry adds body, integrating with the spirit's underlying light ester signature at 56.3%.