Auchroisk 25 Years Old 1996 Cask #HL 19727 (Edition Spirits)

Bottled by Edition Spirits in 2022 as a 25 year old single cask release, drawn from cask HL 19727 of 1996 vintage Auchroisk with 541 bottles distributed to the European market at natural strength of 48%. Edition Spirits is a Singapore based independent bottler associated with the First Editions team, with the HL cask reference indicating prior origin in the Hunter Laing inventory.

Distilled in 1996 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.

A quarter century 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 48%.