Auchentoshan American Oak
Yankee 'Toshan
0 379
Review by @talexander
- Nose21
- Taste20
- Finish18
- Balance20
- Overall79
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- Brand: Auchentoshan
- Type: Scotch
- Region: Lowland
- ABV: 40%
This newer expression is fully matured in first-fill bourbon barrels. Of course, like all Auchenstoshan, this is triple distilled. The bottle has been open for some months now.
The colour is a medium gold. A little spirity on the nose, but pleasant, with grainy malt, honey, toffee, vanilla, mint and green apple. Extremely fruity, actually - throw in some tropical fruits and citrus as well and you have a pretty big basket! Rather floral. Mintier with water. Nice but a little bland in that Auchentoshan way.
On the palate the toffee and vanilla are fighting with the fruit - quite a bit of honey as well. More citrus comes out, with some spices as well. Creamier mouthfeel with water. Tastes fine but doesn't quite gel together somehow.
The finish is a very herbal and a little bitter - not great. This seems to me to be a little too young, and hence rather unbalanced - fruit fights with toffee/vanilla fights with a young spirit. I'm always hit and miss with Auchentoshan (I tend to like the cask-strength ones) and this one is a near miss for me. I poured it for my office a few months ago though, and they all quite liked it, so if you are a fan of the 12 or Three Wood, this might be for you.
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"Nice but a little bland in that Auchentoshan way." kind of sums up a lot of people's attitudes toward Auchentoshan, I would say.
Where does that bitterness on the finish come from, I wonder? Would more time in the barrels generate as many problems in this case as it would solve? If the bitterness is coming from the oak then further aging would mellow the spirit, but probably also increase the bitterness. That bitter finish sounds like it derives from a not so good selection of barrels.