Auchroisk 12 Years Old 2011 Cask #806153 (The Stillman’s DE)

Bottled by The Stillman's in 2023 as a 12 year old single cask release, drawn from cask 806153 of 2011 vintage Auchroisk with 150 bottles distributed to the German market at cask strength of 56.3%. The Stillman's is a German independent bottler focused on hand selected single cask releases at natural strength, with selections drawn from across Scottish distilleries.

Distilled in 2011 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 ex-Bourbon American oak cask.

Twelve years in temperate Speyside warehousing developed primary ester profile alongside 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 56.3% across twelve years reflects steady evaporative loss, with the light ester forward Speyside character integrated under the cask's American oak influence.