Aultmore 13 Years Old AtB Darkness (Atom Brands)

Bottled by Atom Brands as a 13 year old release of Aultmore distributed to the European market at high cask strength of 61.4%. Atom Brands is the UK based independent bottling group behind That Boutique-y Whisky Company, Drinks by the Dram, and Master of Malt, with the Darkness range using small octave casks for intense secondary maturation.

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 Oloroso sherry for 13 year on site maturation.

Patient cask interaction drove European oak Oloroso sherry chemistry. 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 concentration of glycerol lending body, integrated with Aultmore's underlying light ester signature at 61.4%.