Auchentoshan 30 Year Old 1976

This is the type of bottle that you only take out of your cabinet for special occasions. It is a limited edition of an Auchentoshan 30 Year Old, distilled in 1976. Only 600 decanters (you can hardly call this a mere bottle) were released. I opened it up for my 44th birthday tasting and found it to be excellent.

The nose is wonderfully soft and creamy, extremely fruity and in one word: heavenly. Sorry, but that is just the way it is. Oranges, strawberry, gooseberry, green banana and some stone fruits. All of this sprinkled with some mild honey. Vanilla is also present, of course.

Said nose continues beautifully on the palate, in which citrus gets the upper hand. But it is also wonderfully spicy with ginger and liquorice, a touch of oak and loads of nutmeg. I quite like it.

The finish is medium to long, in which the fruit again rears its head.

What a fantastic Auchentoshan. A feast! Unfortunately rather hard to find and quite expensive as well.

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