Auchroisk 1979 - 26 Year Old - First Cask - Single Cask 21458

Auchroisk is a large modern Speyside distillery founded by Justerini & Brooks, which was part of Grand Metropolitan by the time the distillery was completed in 1974. Grand Metropolitan merged with Guinness to become Diageo in 1997.

Unlike many similar distilleries from the same era, Auchroisk was never intended just for blending - Auchroisk’s malt whisky was officially bottled from the late 1970s and was sold as Singleton of Auchroisk from the mid-1980s until 2001, when Diageo introduced a Flora & Fauna 10-year-old. The Singleton brand was later repurposed without Auchroisk, but Diageo have released small batch limited edition Auchroisks for the Rare Malts and Special Release series. The Flora & Fauna edition remains Auchroisk’s only ongoing official bottling, but independent Auchroisk is abundant, with recent highlights from reliable bottlers including Gordon & MacPhail and the SMWS.

The First Cask range was a prolific series of single malt whisky bottlings by the UK’s largest mail order wine company Direct Wines Ltd, owner of Laithwaite’s and The Sunday Times Wine Club. From the early 1990s until the mid-Noughties Direct Wines released dozens of outstanding single cask whiskies annually under the First Cask label, almost all of which were bottled at 46%.

These whiskies were not particularly highly sought-after on release, probably because they were only sold online through a wine club.  Back then, of course, it was not widely known that the casks had been sourced from Signatory Vintage, which would certainly have raised their profile among whisky fans. Nowadays, although still frequently excellent value at auction, the First Cask collection - which includes hundreds of long-aged whiskies from distilleries including Brora, Port Ellen, Ardbeg and Macallan - is finally getting the recognition it deserves.