Singleton of Auchroisk, 1978-1991, 43% abv.

Singleton has some interesting and confusing background to it, which hasn't really garnered much attention in my opinion because the juice is generally not good and thus no one cares. These vintage bottles just remind us of such strange circumstances. The Auchroisk distillery was founded in 1974 and their first releases were circa 1978, making this bottling one of the earliest. However, the name Auchroisk changed to "Singleton" from about 1986 and lasted till around 2001, reverting back to Auchroisk. The funny part was, in Europe, Singleton meant juice distilled from Dufftown, in North America it meant juice distilled from Glendullan, and in Asia/East Asia it meant juice distilled from Glen Ord. Now the Singleton "brand" is a little more forthcoming, but the IBs have done better with all those different distilleries.

Nose: pickled cherries, slight wood, coffee rinds, earthy, with time it becomes light wet old steamed lotus leaves/tannic/expired sherry though, how strange.

Palate: quite vegetative and slightly earthy throughout, a little salty and bitter, most of the flavors are on the back palate which is an  addition of fresh long fibrous leaves you find in small tropical bushes combined with old coffee. This just gets stranger and stranger.

Finish: short, bitter, slight tar, tobacco, slightly sticky mouthfeel.

For a non-Islay low abv type, it has a good amount of flavor, but extremely simple and consisting of flavors I'm not a big fan of, like a young Lowland and Campbeltown hybrid. I guess most scotches in the 12 year range are like that, a conglomeration of immature and unbalanced flavors... or maybe it's just distilleries like Auchroisk? Nonetheless, the palate dominates on this one and the finish leaves much to be desired.

Grade: C

Image courtesy of Eric Yee.

Eric Yee

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