Auchroisk 9 Years Old 2012 Cask #807627A (Claxton’s)

Bottled by Claxton's in 2022 as a 9 year old single cask release, drawn from cask 807627A of 2012 vintage Auchroisk and distributed to the Netherlands market at cask strength of 57.3%. Claxton's is a family run independent bottler from East Yorkshire founded by Charlie and Matthew Claxton in 2014, with releases focused on full strength single casks.

Distilled in 2012 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.

Nine 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 57.3%.