Another cracking dram from the 2016 Diageo Special Releases outturn.

This time round it’s Auchroisk (pronounced Orth-Rusk), a distillery found in the Speyside region. A rather fascinating spirit, Diageo employ a fast mashing, rapid fermentation, and a quick, intense boiling method which singes the distilling solids somewhat. In the final whisky, this produces a pronounced spicy, nuttiness, and cereal sweetness. Other than the odd special release and Singleton offering, this whisky is rarely seen as a single malt, and has been traditionally associated with the J&B blend.

This whisky has been matured in a mixture of American oak hogsheads and European oak butts for 25 years. The result is a well-balanced, tropical and spicy dram.

Auchroisk 25 Year Old delivers notes of gristy malt, apricot, white peach, menthol, cinnamon, raisins, cream, pressed flowers, a little chocolate, marzipan and hazelnuts.

Bottled at a cask strength of 51.2% ABV, this is a full-bodied, full-flavoured whisky.

• Product type
  Single Malt
• Distillery / brand
  Auchroisk
• Country
  Scotland
• Region
  Speyside
• Bottler
  Distillery Bottling
• Distillation date
  1990
• Bottling date
  2016
• Age
  25 years old
• Non-chillfiltered
  Yes
• Natural colour
  Yes
• SKU
  033913