Auchentoshan 12 Year Old

I agree @pudge72 nicely put.

@Pudge72, thank you for a nice nuanced review. I, too, would usually drink the Auchentoshan 12 in preference to either Glenlivet 12 or Glenfiddich 12. The Toshan 12 has to my palate more and better flavours than those two others.

@Pudge72, nice review, mate. Thanks for the plug of my Toshan Man site too. Interested people should check it out in a day or two where I'll have your story up - photo included. Don't you just love this community? :)

Great review, I too have just acquired a bottle of Auchentoshan 12 Year old a few days ago. I was very pleasantly surprised at it's character and it quickly won me over. Very easy drinking and IMHO a great bang for your buck at $41 plus tax here. It will always have a place in my bar.

Thank you all for the great comments and feedback...My wife deserves the kudos for surprising me with this bottle several weeks ago. I was more than happy to share this with @victor and @dbk a couple of days later. It was also the introductory dram for my friend who later purchased the Highland Park 18 that I just reviewed (the 'Tosh quite impressed him, and opened his eyes to the beauty of SMSW's...one or both of us will have the 'Tosh handy at all times).

@markjedi1...couldn't agree more...Connosr is indeed a wonderful resource for the whisk(e)y community!

Check out www.markdermul.be/toshanman for the full story behind this particular tasting note :) @Pudge72, thanks for sharing. If anyone else has a Toshan Story to tell, I've got a special section on the Toshan Man website just for that purpose!

Small update...apparently someone at the LCBO read this review as the 'Tosh 12 has now been bumped up to CAN$48+...still a great value for quality. On the bright side, the 'Tosh 18 was lowered to an extremely reasonable CAN$94.

Does that mean you'll be getting the Tosh 18 as well? You will love that one, I'm sure. If it weren't so expensive (relatively speaking in comparison to the entry versions such as the 12 or the Three Wood, I mean), I'd have more of that one too. Or the 21 (that is sublime!)

D'ah! I will be getting it at some point, though I just realized that it is not on my wishlist...got to fix that...I'll catch 'jdcook' yet! :)

Unfortunately, I am trying to prioritize my purchases by price, starting with the cheapest, which means the 3W and 18 - while very well priced - are a ways off from being bought. At this point, the 12, 3W, and 18 are the only bottles available in Ontario.

The purchase process has been prolonged in large part due to a couple of trips to the US (buying stuff that is just not available in Ontario) and the fact that the LCBO keeps discontinuing bottles, which move those up the priority scale (Glengoyne 10, Bowmore Tempest, Port Charlotte An Turas Mor, Glenmorangie Nectar D'Or, Aberlour 16).

Edit: I have bumped up the score by one point to reflect the improvement of the bottle after being open about 8-9 months (back in January). @WhiskyJoe and I both have noticed a nice rounding out and improved presence of the flavour notes in the last 1/2 - 1/3 of our respective bottles (hooray for toffee and almonds!). My bottle would now rate an 86, so the new 85 score is an averaging of the original review and the current score.

Glad you bumped it in the right direction :)