uchentoshan is one of the easiest distilleries to reach in Scotland: you land in Glasgow, rent a car while eating an horrible airport sandwich and in half an hour you reach the doors of an ancient distillery founded in 1823. The visitor center (you can see here a very glamourous picture of it), had a fairly recent restyling in 2004 and is visited by circa 20.000 visitor per year; Auchentoshan can boast the title of only distillery in Scotland which performs exclusively triple distillation: we’re very curious to open this sample filled with a 15yo of 1999, bottled by Signatory Vintage (ex-bourbon casks 800258 and 800259).

N: with only 46% the alcohol is quite exuberant. Not a good beginning since this alcoholic side is not balanced by well integrated notes, but it’s combined with a very naked profile, leafy and not much more. Propolis, dry grass, barley, cellulose like the white part of the lemon. Quite floral.

P: after a tragedy of a predominant presence of alcohol at the nose, the palate is really more pleasurable. Hints of herbal candy, very leafy. We can really feel the distillate, sustained by a light sugary and grassy sweetness (barley and flowers).

F: not a very long one, extremely clean, to the point where we forgot if we had a whisky or a vodka.

It’s surprising how for a 15yo the cask had such a minimal influence on this whisky, leaving the distillate in the foreground. And it’s not actually a complaint. The problem is that Auchentoshan, as per our experience, doesn’t strike as an unforgettable distillate. 77/100 is the best we can do.

Recommended soundtrack: The Sorcerers – Pinch Of The Death Nerve.