*The ImpEx Collection 10 Year Old 2011 Auchroisk Single Malt Scotch Whisky Bottle*

I’ll start with the obligatory disclosure: ImpEx Beverages is now the Presenting Sponsor for the Whiskey Ring Podcast. All editorial control remains with me, and they had no input whatsoever on this review and writeup.

That being said…

If you’re a long-time reader, first off, thanks! Secondly, you’ll know I’ve been reviewing stuff from ImpEx and their various collections (and the brands they import) for over a year, for several months without realizing I was even doing it. I didn’t love everything, but I’d be hard pressed to find a product I thought was outright bad. Most have been very good or better, some reaching the upper echelons of my rating system.

I attribute this to two things:

The palates behind their single cask offerings align with mine, and
They’re picking damn good products to import.

I’ve written before about how important it is to find palates that align with yours, especially in the context of store picks. I know if Rob Bralow at Blue Streak in Long Island City picks a bottle and I like that brand, chances are I’ll like that bottle (I’ve only been wrong once on this). I know if the Beast Masters pick a rum from Holmes Cay or an Armagnac, I’m going to like it. I know if I get a sample from ImpEx, it will be a high quality product.

That’s my rant on that. If you still have questions or concerns about my reviewing integrity, please reach out - I genuinely want to hear your point of view and hopefully address it.

On to Auchroisk….

Today, there are 140+ working distilleries in Scotland. Most of them are ones none but the .1% of whisky drinkers will ever hear of. Think people who know about ImpEx, people in the Scotch Malt Whisky Society (disclosure: another sponsor), people who are hardcore into whisky - the average consumer won’t know the names Cameronbridge, Auchroisk, Caol Ila, or the dozens of other distilleries literally designed to be high-volume producers to go into blends and other products.

That’s not a dig at the “average” consumer, it’s a recognition of how much the Scotch whisky industry homogenized and consolidated over the two-plus centuries since distilling was broadly legalized there. People who have never had a drink in their life - including not-of-age people - will likely know Johnnie Walker as a brand. They’ll probably know Dewar’s, too, as much as they’ll know Jack Daniel’s is a square bottle with a black label and Maker’s Mark has red wax.

To understand a distillery like Auchroisk is to understand how the industry survived, reorganized, and rebuilt in the aftermath of Prohibition, World War II, and the whisky market’s crash in the mid-20th century.

Auchroisk is a relatively new distillery, being constructed in 1972. Its owners produced J&B Blended Scotch and needed another distillery in their Speyside portfolio to supplement the modest gains in Scotch sales. Production began two years later. In 1986, it was sold as a single malt for the first time, though not for long (the single malt boom was just beginning, and Auchroisk didn’t take off the same way Macallan did). In 1997, Auchroisk came under the Diageo umbrella as the latter formed out of a mega-merger between Grand Metropolitan and Guinness (in case you don’t know, Diageo owns Johnnie Walker, Clynelish, Caol Ila, Singleton, and many of the largest Scotch brands and distilleries out there).

Auchroisk was never mothballed like its fellow Diageo-owned distilleries at Port Ellen, Brora, and Glenury Royal (and many others - there are nearly a dozen). That being said, its single malt SKU was never restored and the distillery faded into the background of Diageo’s portfolio. It’s still a component in many of the mega-conglomerate’s blends, but to find a single malt bottling you’ll have to ask independent bottlers like ImpEx. Hell - Auchroisk doesn’t even have a website!

The profile is, in a phrase, a white sangria candle about to burn out. It blends elements of Linkwood, whose whiskies are bright and fruity like an aged white wine, Clynelish, known for its waxy character, and Mortlach, the “Beast of Dufftown” whose malts are heavy and chewable. The flickers of barrel char and smoke are background notes that emphasize the summery nature of the liquid.

This is my first time trying Auchroisk - it won’t be the last.

Thank you to ImpEx Beverages for providing this sample with no strings attached. Full disclosure: ImpEx is the Whiskey Ring Podcast’s Presenting Sponsor. All editorial control remains with me.

The ImpEx Collection 10 Year Old 2011 Auchroisk Single Malt Scotch Whisky: Specs

Classification: Single Malt Scotch Whiskey

Origin: Auchroisk Distillery

Mashbill: 100% Malted Barley

Proof: 115.6 (57.8% ABV)

Age: 10 Years Old, Aged in 1st-Fill Bourbon Hogsheads

Cask: #806214

Location: Speyside, Scotland

The ImpEx Collection 10 Year Old 2011 Auchroisk Single Malt Scotch Whisky Price: $116.99

Official Website

The ImpEx Collection 10 Year Old 2011 Auchroisk Single Malt Scotch Whisky Review: Tasting Notes

Eye: Champagne. Medium, bleeding rims, thin quick legs and tiny droplets.

Nose: Heavy malt and cereal, fresh toasted kasha. Prosecco on the sweeter side rather than brut, falling just shy of a Moscato d’Asti. Waxy, aged white wine without too much oak. Beautiful - fruity, heavy and sweet.

Palate: Front tongue white pepper blast, followed by the Moscato turning from sweet wine to oaky Chardonnay with moderate tannins. The astringency emerges and coats the tongue, the white fruit flesh reminiscent of white wine sangria. Summery to its core, the fruit coalescing on the back palate before moving forward to challenge the pepperiness. Mouthfeel is piquant, grabbing the front half of my tongue. Slightly numbing, waxy, filling and heavy. The Chardonnay stays as the tannins fade.

Finish: White sangria, prosecco Bellinis. Tannins fall to the back palate and throat, the waxy spirit laying surprisingly lightly on the tongue on a medium-length finish.

Overall: What an introduction to Auchroisk. If I had to compare distilleries, it would be a Linkwood profile paired with a Clynelish waxiness and a Mortlach-level heft. Might be my first pour of Auchroisk but won’t be the last.

Final Rating: 7.6

10 | Insurpassable | Nothing Else Comes Close

9 | Incredible | Extraordinary

8 | Excellent | Exceptional

7 | Great | Well above average

6 | Very Good | Better than average

5 | Good | Good, solid, ordinary

4 | Has promise but needs work

1-3 | Let’s have a conversation