Auchroisk 8 Years Old 2010 Cask #48 (Feinkost Reifferscheid)

Bottled by Feinkost Reifferscheid in 2019 as an 8 year old single cask release, drawn from cask 48 of 2010 vintage Auchroisk and distributed to the German market at high cask strength of 61%. Feinkost Reifferscheid is a German specialist food and drink retailer based in Koblenz, with an active independent bottling programme presenting hand selected single casks at natural strength.

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 a single Port pipe.

Eight years in Port pipe conditions drove distinctive fortified red wine character into the lighter Speyside base. Port aging in pipes brings residual tannins from Portuguese varieties like Touriga Nacional and Tinta Roriz, alongside anthocyanin pigments and oxidative aldehydes from extended oxidative cask seasoning. The combination delivers figs, plum, cocoa, and leather, integrated with the spirit's underlying light ester signature at 61%.