The wonderful Auchroisk distillery is one of the work horse malts that remains an unsung hero in the Diageo portfolio. The Auchroisk name is indeed a difficult one to pronounce; "AWTH-rusk" is the closest an American ear can get without much practice. Despite the tongue-twister, the meaning in Gaelic is poetic: "A shallow ford across the red stream". While this important, relatively young distillery was founded by J&B in 1972, it didn't produce malt for some time thereafter. It's often marketed along with Glendullan and Glen Ord as "The Singleton", which has always caused confusion. How can there be three Singletons? Not far from the fabulous Dewar's affiliated distillery of Aultmore, Auchroisk is on the road between Aberlour and Keith. K&L has long valued the rich character of its whiskies, and the reasonable price on the independent bottling market. When filled into a quality cask, it can represent some of the finest value for classical Speyside character anywhere. This lovely cask was filled into a used hogshead in February of 2007 and bottled for the launch of Hunter Laing's Ardnahoe Distillery on Islay. It's sold exclusively at K&L in the United States and bottled without coloring or chill filtration at Old Malt Cask's classic 100 drinking proof.