My Auchentoshan Journey continues : The Valinch
We continue our Toshan odyssey with something more powerful and although young and with NAS , quite the cracker IMHO. The Valinch.
Valinch is the the name of the pipette used to draw whisky straight from the cask, and this one is just that. bottled at cask strength of 57.5% which is a nice change after the rather anemic 12 year old. Essentially it’s a cask strength version of the “classic” but with a lot of oomph. Let’s try this one, shall we?
Auchentoshan Valinch 2011 Release , 57.5 , £36
Nose: crème Brule with lemon rind on top. Coconut. And a lot of vanilla. Youthful, and very strong on the nose, it takes a but of water with grace, and some time in the glass. I also suggest to let it sit in the glass so you can nose it better, especially if you are new to whisky.
Palate: Banana loti (you know the stuff you eat in Thailand) Powerful ginger spice lemon combo. Wood and sherry. Chewable and intense. That’s why I love cask strength. This is great. After some time in the glass. Mango !!
Finish: medium. Cocoa powder. Wood. Nuts.
In two words : I LIKE! , this is very good, a young, full of flavours, fruit and exotica.A cracker of a dram, which at a good price. I need me some of this.
Whisky distilleries, i do hope you will learn that we are looking for cask strength expressions. 40% doesn’t do it to whisky anoraks these days, right?
I do hope many distilleries will follow and release cask strength, even at a young age, so we can experience the true flavour of undiluted goodness.
Score: 86/100
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