Aultmore 13 Years Old 2009 The Refiners (Feingeist GmbH)

Bottled by Feingeist GmbH in 2022 as a 13 year old release of 2009 vintage Aultmore with 189 bottles distributed to the German market at high cask strength of 58.6%. Feingeist is a German independent bottler based in Hamburg, with The Refiners series presenting hand selected single cask releases at natural strength.

Distilled at the Aultmore distillery near Keith in Speyside, founded in 1896 by Alexander Edward and owned by Bacardi via John Dewar & Sons since 1998. The wash is made from unpeated plain malted barley with soft Auchinderran Burn water, mashed in a stainless steel full lauter mash tun and fermented for 56 hours in six larch wood washbacks. Aultmore runs the spirit through two wash and two spirit stills of plain pot still shape, with steam heated wash stills and shell and tube condensers giving high copper contact for a light, ester forward Speyside character. The spirit was filled into ex-Bourbon American oak with Banyuls finish for 13 year on site maturation.

The combination maturation drove layered character. The American oak stage built vanillin from lignin breakdown alongside cis and trans oak lactones, with vanilla, coconut, and char derived furfural. The Banyuls stage added fortified Grenache character from the Roussillon, bringing high glycerol, tannic grip, and rancio derived walnut and cocoa from oxidative cask seasoning, integrated with Aultmore's light ester signature at 58.6%.