Aultmore 35 Years Old 1974 Cask #3739 (Adelphi)

Bottled by Adelphi in 2010 as a 35 year old single cask release drawn from cask 3739 of 1974 vintage Aultmore with 101 bottles distributed to the Netherlands market at cask strength of 49.6%. Adelphi is a Scottish independent bottler founded in 1826 and revived in 1993, now owned by Keith Falconer and Donald Houston.

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 a single ex-Bourbon American oak cask for 35 year on site maturation.

Patient cask interaction across more than two decades drove measured American oak extraction in temperate Speyside warehousing. Vanillin from lignin breakdown gave vanilla, cis and trans oak lactones added coconut and sweet wood, and char layer interaction produced furfural with Maillard derived caramelised sugars. Holding 49.6% across 35 years reflects steady evaporative loss, with American oak influence layered over Aultmore's signature light, ester forward profile.