Auchroisk 12 Years Old 2009 Cask #362237 (James Eadie)

Bottled by James Eadie in 2022 as a 12 year old single cask release, drawn from cask 362237 of 2009 vintage Auchroisk with 227 bottles distributed to the UK market at natural strength of 54%. James Eadie is an independent bottler founded by Rupert Patrick in 2014, reviving the historic blending name of James Eadie Ltd that dates back to 1854 in the Black Country.

Distilled in 2009 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 Oloroso sherry cask.

Twelve years in European oak Oloroso conditions drove deep sherry character into the lighter Speyside base. Ellagitannins and gallic acid from the European oak build dried walnut and grip, while oxidative aldehydes including acetaldehyde and syringaldehyde develop nutty, leathery rancio. Fermentation derived sotolon adds dried fig and curry leaf, with slow concentration of glycerol lending body, integrated with the spirit's underlying light ester signature at 54%.