Colour: Gold.
Nose: Rich and intense on the nose. Strong flavours of ripe yellow fruit, pineapple in particular, emerge, intermingling with subtle sherry notes and a delicate whiff of spiced oak. Very complex and pleasantly appealing!
Palate: Lovely sweet start on the palate with ripe yellow fruits - pineapples, oranges and peaches. This is immediately followed by an intensive load of warming spices - oak, ginger and cracked black pepper. Once the warm, even hot spiciness fades away, delicate notes of yellow plums and slightly bitter orange peel mingle with a touch of roasted almonds and oak towards the finish.
Finish: The finish is medium long, slightly warm and bitter sweet with sticky orange jam, and stewed plums. Gets drier in the end with oak, a whiff of pepper and subtle earthy notes.
With water: Fresh and fruity on the nose with a splash of water. The intense pineapple aroma is a bit tamed bringing more sherry flavours to the fore. The delicate fruitiness is present on the palate with a lovely mix of barley sugar, vanilla, plums and gentle spiced oak. The spiciness is significantly tamed with water. The finish is slightly shorter with bitter sweet notes of orange peel, oak and fruit.
Comments: A complex and delicate dram! Shy at first but improves over time in the glass. Well crafted with a perfect balance of fruit, oak and intensive spiciness. Water brings out the various fruity notes and tames a bit of the hot spiciness. A lovely match of distillery character and wood impact. Another example for the outstanding quality of bottlings from The Whisky Chamber.

I thank Thomas Ide from The Whisky Chamber for sample and photograph!

Colour: Pale white wine.
Nose: Light, soft and creamy. A bit reserved but hugely aromatic. Sugar sweetness and lots of fruit, mirabelle, red cherry and gooseberry, complemented by lingering vanilla cream and white chocolate. A touch of spiciness arrives with subtle pepper and oak. Very pleasant on the nose with the alcohol being perfectly integrated.
Palate: Delicate fruity sweetness with cherries and mirabelle, immediately followed by a short but hot and firm kick of spices - cracked pepper, even chili, oak and tannins. Warm and lingering with delicate vanilla notes and sticky honey. Extremely mouth-coating.
Finish: A slightly sweet and medium to long finish. Gets drier in the end with a touch of bitter oak tannins. Dark honey sticks on the tongue for quite a while.
With water: Very aromatic with an increased fruity sweetness on the nose, which, however, is almost masked on the palate with more spices coming through, leading to a medium long and spicy finish.
Comments: This Auchroisk is not obviously sherryish, but still manages very big flavours indeed. Lots of fruitiness with an amazingly huge amount of spices on the midpalate. Short but hot! I'm very impressed by the smoothness of this dram considering its high alcoholic strength. Thus, I prefer this beauty neat. Excellent value for money!

I thank Caminneci - Wine & Spirit Partner for sample and photograph!