Auchentoshan = WILF (sometimes)
12 Jul
I’ll admit I never had much time for Auchentoshan, its not a malt that’s ever really seduced me. I have managed to find examples from most distilleries that have been fairly stunning but I think its just something about the style of Auchentoshan that I don’t like. For me it represents the epitome of what people mean when they say ‘Lowalnd’ malt. It is very light, often clean and grassy and while these are attractive qualities for many, its easy drinking for sure, I find it a little lacking. The ones I liked more were the older ones, this generally seems to be the case with lighter spirits, they can dance to the tune of decades much better than their heavier, brutish cousins from the highlands and Islands. This was hit home to me on Arran last weekend when Wayne very generously poured a dram of this.
A 50yo beauty. A 'WILF', if you like.
Sadly there is no sample to try this and score it properly now, needless to say it was a stunningly beautiful example of an old whisky. Anyway it got me thinking that I should revisit Auchentoshan and have a proper bash at a couple of different recent bottlings.
Auchentoshan 12yo. Douglas Laing Provenance (PRV0561). 46%. Bottled march 2009.
Colour: Pale Gold
Nose: Starts off with lots of cereals and bit of porridge. A little buttery with some clean fruitiness, quite grassy which is very typical. After a while it develops some notes of tangerines and light honey, honey and butter on toast. A lovely delicate sweetness. The nose is not overcomplicated but it is very attractive and delicate.
Palate: Soft, malty and slightly chewy, fairly inoffensive delivery but not much happening. Quite a lot more sweetness than the nose suggested, a little nutty and something of a cheap liqueur about it, Amaretti?
Finish: Short but suddenly drying and a little dusty. Interesting.
Comments: Ok there’s not much to this one, its very straightforward. However what is there is quite pleasant and drinkable, if you poured me a dram in a pub I wouldn’t complain. A good clean session malt in my opinion.
Score: 77/100
Auchentoshan 13yo. Douglas Laing Old Malt Cask (OMC1650). 50%. Bottled march 2009.
Colour: Only slightly paler than the 12yo, more like platinum than gold.
Nose: One more year and more alcohol, lets see… That big cereal maltiness it there again but this time its much richer and little more concentrated on freshly malted barley. More creamy than the 12yo, quite an oily buttery character on the nose. Maybe a bit more spicy as well, with nutmeg and unusual hints of rose water and eucalyptus. Some white flowery notes and fleshy fruitiness is lingering in the back there, quite pleasant, it might benefit from water this one. Water unmasks more of those white fruit aromas and some very nice delicate, woody, spicy notes.
Palate: Neat it is quite peppery and spicy with maraschino cherries, kirsh eua de vie and parma violets. Quite a good, unusually intense delivery. Nice balance between the malt and fruit components and surprisingly easy on the mouth for 50% alcohol. With water it suffers on the palate slightly in my opinion, becomes a little cardboardy and yeasty, not so enjoyable to drink now, some bitter astringency.
Finish: Better and longer when neat with that creamy/spicy combo hanging around.
Comments: I liked the 13yo better than the 12yo though I think they both benefitted greatly from higher strengths and no chill filtration. I think the 13 is noticeably better though, but be careful with water, pour two drams, one with water to nose and one neat to drink.
Score: 82/100
