January 5, 2014

Tasting three slightly bizarre Auchroisk

We'll have two new indie Auchroisk today but first, a little official apéritif... I think we may expect walnuts, just trying to say something...

Auchroisk 10 yo 'Flora & Fauna' (43%, OB, +/-2010)

The earlier 'Singleton of Auchroisk', whether 'con vintage' or not, never quite convinced me but I found the fairly recent official 20 yo excellent (WF 87). Colour: straw. Nose: porridge, porridge and porridge. Wood-smoked porridge. Then grass, grass and grass and maybe a few nuts, and lastly, well, smoked porridge. It's all pretty dry I must say. Mouth: starts quite rough and unexpectedly salty. The nuts are back as well, together with quite some dry malt, a little stout, maybe drops of artichoke liqueur and a little chocolate. Good mouth feel at 43%. I like this palate better than the nose. Finish: quite long, dry and very malty. Touches of bitter oranges and pepper in the background. Comments: how unsweet! Pretty big, austere malt whisky. 'A variant'. SGP:262 - 78 points.

Auchroisk 22 yo 1991/2013 (49.5%, The Coopers Choice, Marsala finish, cask #9048, 250 bottles)

Colour: gold. Nose: bizarre bizarre... Who said bizarre? This time it's coal smoke that's arising, something stale and even a tad rancid (yoghurt), before the wine starts to impart even more sour notes. Sour apples? Quite butyric, this strange baby, but there's something pleasant to be found in this unlikeliness. Maybe these growing whiffs of dark old musty wine cellar? Mouth: starts well, malty and nutty with very nice oranges, but it unfolds in a strange way. Bitter fruits, walnut skin, acrid plants and herbs, some kind of strange mustard... Not an easy one and that's an understatement. Finish: long, bitter and acrid. Comments: what kind of Marsala was this? It's like if the wine's acridness added to the spirit's. Having said that, if you love mustardy walnuts (?), this is for you. There are many great Coopers Choice bottlings these days but I feel this baby isn't one of them. SGP:372 - 70 points.

Auchroisk 22 yo 1990/2013 (52.9%, The Nectar of the Daily Drams)

This one should win hands down! ;-) Colour: gold. Nose: what's striking again is the smokiness, this time right between coal and wood. It's also quite sooty, then we have charcoal and a huge bag of walnuts. Good walnuts. With water: pear and camphor. More fun! Mouth (neat): there's a similar feeling of concentrated walnut extracts in the entry but some very nice orange and lemon marmalades manage to take control of all this. Some obvious similarities with the Coopers Choice do remain but there's also something that reminds me more of some good Manzanilla, which I enjoy. Yes, that would be mustard and walnuts again. With water: same feeling. It's really not unlike the Coopers' but it's much better balanced and the lemony side grew bigger. It lifts it, in a way. Finish: long and zestier. It's really Manzanilla now! Comments: it's not easy whisky, it's not very sexy, but it works and it's very singular. Maybe that's why the owners called their version 'the singleton' fifteen or twenty years ago? It's also to be noted that this whisky improves a lot with oxygen. SGP:462 - 85 points.

Check the index of all Auchroisk I've tasted so far