Whisky Review: Auchroisk 11—The Exclusive Malts (2003)

As I mentioned in my What I’m Drinking article a few days ago, I recently stumbled upon a bottle of Auchroisk 11 year (2003), bottled by the Creative Whisky Company (an independent bottler of whisky) under their “The Exclusive Malts” label. I had previously seen this bottle at another store a while back and had wanted to buy it, but it sold out before I did so. When I saw the same bottle at another store recently, I was pretty excited and bought one without hesitation.

Auchroisk is a malt whisky producer in the Speyside region of Scotland. It is a relatively young distillery compared to most other distilleries in Scotland, having been founded in 1974. It is fairly uncommon to find bottlings of Auchroisk, as most of the whisky they produce goes into blended Scotch, such as J&B.

So was my excitement over finding this bottle warranted? Let’s get on to the review…

Type: Single Malt Scotch
Region: Speyside
ABV: 56.4%
Price: $110

Nose: Strongly sherried nose. Dark chocolate. Nuts, especially walnuts. Berries. Pomegranate. Raisins. Christmas cookies. Nutmeg.

Palate: Sweet sherry arrival. Chocolate. Baking spices. Oak. Sweet malt. Cinnamon sugar. Oatmeal raisin cookies. Rich and wonderful. Thick, almost chewy, mouthfeel.

Finish: Long and warming. Cinnamon and spice. Dark chocolate. Berries. A little hot when neat, a few drops of water settles it down.

Overall: Wonderful. This bottle easily exceeded my expectations. I love a good, well-aged sherry bomb, and that’s what this is, even at the somewhat young age of 11 years—it seems much more mature than its stated age. If given to me blind, I think I would have guessed that this was closer to 18 years, maybe even more.

Value: This is delicious whisky. Expensive, but worth every penny.

Buy again? Yes.

Score: 92/100