
July 30, 2020

A wee trio of Auchroisk

We haven’t tried many Auchroisk but some have been good.

Auchroisk 22 yo 1996/2018 (46%, Orcines, France, hogshead, cask #1976, 266 bottles)

Auchroisk 22 yo 1996/2018 (46%, Orcines, France, hogshead, cask #1976, 266 bottles)
By The Whisky Lodge in Lyons/Lyon. Colour: white wine. Nose: some pure gristy and barleyish malt whisky, full of porridge and crushed bananas, with touches of tar and ashes in the background, then a little aniseed and rubber. Rather a fuller Speysider this far, I would say, the age sure doesn’t show. Mouth: I totally understand why a blender would need this rather oily malt whisky that’s got oils and spicy herbs aplenty. Bitter leaves, banana skin, soot, graphite oil, touches of angelica and liquorice root… Seriously I haven’t tried many Auchroisk al natural, and I am rather pleased. It is not ‘just another Speysider’. Finish: medium, rather on some pretty unusual waxy grasses. Or seaweded? Wakame? Comments: very good and interesting drop, recommended. I should have tried it earlier – been lazy again.
SGP:452 - 86 points.

Auchroisk 27 yo 1991/2019 (48.7%, Valinch & Mallet, bourbon hogshead, cask #19-2701, 291 bottles)

Colour: white wine. Nose: this one’s more on bonbons, wine gums, Jell-O, then cassata and stewed fruits, with a good proportion of rhubarb. Very different. A whiff of wood smoke coming from the background as well as some sour dough. Mouth: a similar feeling, with an oilier structure and touches of rubber, artichoke… It remains rather on doughs and sweets. Finish: nice, rather oilier and waxier indeed, so that may be a marker. It was about time we improved our list of Auchroisk markers. Comments: another one that’s very good, it was just a notch sketchier than the 1996. I would drink this!
SGP:461 - 84 points.

And now one of those young wrestlers by James Eadie… (I suppose it’s a wrestler…)

Auchroisk 12 yo 2007/2019 (59.4%, James Eadie, first fill bourbon, cask #80595, 291 bottles)

Colour: gold. Nose: they’re doing a super job, really. You’ve got this waxy, paraffiny, almost plastic side, then the grist and the porridge, then a sourness (natural yoghurt), then banana skins, touch of aniseed, umami sauce, earth, dried porcinis… I have to say I rather fond of this. With water: bread baked in the fireplace or something. Some spearmint, citron, auntie’s lemon curd… Mouth (neat): high power, ridden with aniseed, menthol and sour cream, then baguette dough, bananas, pastis and fresh mushrooms. Some grapefruit keeping it sharp. With water: a little rubber, absolutely not a problem in this context. Gherkins. Finish: long, sweeter, more on triple-sec and limoncello, but with a grassier and bitterer aftertaste. Comments: they really have a house style at James Eadie’s, I’m not sure many indie bottlers could say that too. Try some of their whiskies, I believe we should buy a few and cellar them for thirty years or so, and then open them while listening to Madonna’s latest.
SGP:561 - 87 points.

It was a very satisfactory session. To me, at least.

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