The Auchentoshan Valinch was first released in 2011, and was one of the nicer Toshans I’ve tried last year. Its essentially a young NAS , high strength ABV (like all NAS’s should be, if you ask me..) which made me say : Wow. Auchentoshan can release good stuff(read my notes of the 2011 here) . This was back in 2011 …

A couple of month ago Wemyss released 5 new single casks to their Single cask collection, and continuing their recent trend, they do disclose which distillery is behind the lovely name and descriptions. I really like how they name their expressions, with descriptive names, although not as fancy and posh, and some might say over posh names given to some …

Not all single casks are great, and not all blended mats are mediocre. A saying I just invented, but it’s true. I’ve been tasting quite a few SMWS single casks in recent weeks and this particular one from Auchentoshan is an example that some single casks are not very good sometimes. I am not quite sure why the SMWS picked …

Another one of the Toshans from the sample swap with the ‘Toshan Man, Mark. I was really looking to tasting this one, being a sherry cask, and indie selected by Belgian whisky club Fulldram. And I was in for a treat

Auchentoshan 1999 Malts of Scotland Xmas Fulldram , 56,4% ABV , Cask # 2412
Nose: Sweet burst of sugars. Big sherry …

Continuing our Auchentoshan journey, today we’re in for a treat. a cask strength distillery only bottling. In 2009 Auchentoshan held a festival over at the distillery , visited by over 2000 people. A special edition was bottled for the occasion, 500 bottles made, of a fairly young cask strength whisky (NAS on the bottle), which later was also sold on …

Today we’re tasting an IB Toshan, bottled by Duncan Taylor in a line called “BattleHill” to commemorate battles fought by the highland clans in the 16 century, near Huntly. This line of bottling includes  Imperial, Auchentoshan,  Macallan , Aberlour and Auchentoshan. This one is an entry level bottling at 43%,
Auchentoshan 8 yo Battlehill by Duncan Taylor,43% ABV
Nose : green apples …

Another Toshan today, this time a very limited, and very unique one. This bottling was released in 2008 , as a duty free only edition (or distillery shop exclusive) , with an outrun of 1800 bottles only.Calling it a wine finish is really not so accurate, as it spent 8 years in ex-bourbon casks, and another 12 years!!! in Saint-Julien …

We continue the journey with a sherry cask matured ‘toshan. this one was distilled in 1998, bottled in 2010, and aged in  European Oak, Fino Sherry barrels for some 12 years. Fino being the lightest type of sherry, imparts it’s lighter sherry effect on the spirit, but still produces very interesting sherry effects, and changes the ‘basic’ ‘toshan profile quite …

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 …

Auchentoshan has been one distillery I’ve yet to post any notes about. Weird, but when I come to think of it, I’ve only tasted very few ‘Toshans in the last few years, and don’t really know why. To rectify this I went to the source, The “Toshan Man” A.K.A Mark Dermul, who is a very well known Auchentoshan fan and …