Bought: Online Whisky Auction, 19th June 2015
Ratings:
82.43/100 – Whiskybase (75cl version. Average from 9 member votes. My 5cl here)
These days we tend to think of ‘Singleton’ as a whisky from the Dufftown or Glen Ord distilleries but from 1986 until 2001 the name was used by the Auchroisk distillery to describe their single malt. The distillery was constructed between 1972 and 1974 so my bottle is an early example, being distilled in 1976. The intension behind Auchroisk was to provide malted whisky for the J&B blend (still its principal blend today) but it was soon discovered that the output made delicious single malt. The name ‘Singleton’ was only used because the distillery name was considered difficult to pronounce. ‘Oth-rusk’ doesn’t seem that difficult, not compared to some distilleries, which is probably why Auchroisk eventually dropped the use of ‘Singleton’.
The house style for Auchroisk whisky is sweet, fragrant, honey, medium-bodied with a hint of nuts and some smoke. The whisky is distilled in ex-bourbon casks and finished in ex-sherry casks if destined to become a single malt. Definitely a Speyside whisky worth trying!
Whisky Den 
I have an opened bottle of 1976 with about 2 inches taken from it. Is it worth anything?
Hi Beth! Unfortunately open bottles of whisky are practically impossible to sell, certainly here in the UK. Auction houses have to be able to give a good level of guarantee to buyers that the whisky in the bottles are genuine. This isn’t possible if the bottle has been opened. Are you sure it’s open? I only ask because unopened bottles of that age can suffer from evaporation, even as much as 2 inches. If it is open one way you might be able to make something from it is to find a local whisky group, befriend the organiser and see if you can bottle up small samples for the members to buy. But if it’s been open for years it may have oxidised to the point that experienced whisky drinkers wont enjoy it.