700 ML
Tasting note from cask:
Nose- Green apples, pears, and tropical fruit chews.
Palate- Sweet with notes of lemon, Victoria sponge, and gentle herbs.
Finish- Medium length with lingering herbs.
Nose: very grain rich and light. Auchentoshan distillate is immediately identifiable. Fruit punch, Gushers candy, various Hi-Chew, Hubble Bubble, coconut shavings, cakes, apple, pear, ever-so-slight candle wax, fruit waxes, Ornamental Chinese pears, slight solvent/glue, perfume, milk duds, citrus peels, pomelo, dried dates and goji berries, lemongrass. There’s something there so subtly pleasant that I can’t quite pin down—almost like a faded perfume… It’s very much a nuanced experience and does get a lot more interesting with time and water.
Palate: sweet, some sour, very grain rich. Citrus, bergamot, characteristic lowland biscuit—digestive biscuits and shortbread cookies, brioche—, lemon, limoncello, lemon oil, sponge cake, eucalyptus, vanilla, barley sugar, lemongrass, rosemary, honeydew, Starbursts, liquorice, lightly lactic—reminiscent of mozzarella.
This isn’t the best Auchentoshan I’ve tasted but it’s far from being the worst. I don’t think the cask is exceptional here. It’s a refill hogshead, most likely bourbon and not a wet cask at that, being left out before being coopered. However, it does do its job. I have a feeling if this were bottled now in 2024, 4-5 years later, it would compete with any Rare Malt Rosebank… Like with any Lowland, some water and patience will take you far. 23 minutes won’t do… sit with this for at least an hour although I think this peaks nearer to 2…
88/100 (85-89 depending on how patient you are…)