Auchentoshan 1997 21 Year Un-Chillfiltered Collection (Signatory) The Whisky Barrel

I've had a lot of shite to average Auchentoshan..in fact that is the range it inhabits for me. The OBs anyway. Then I got a call from Santa. Ho, ho, have I a present for you.. an Auchentoshan. I knew i hadn't been the best person all year but I knew i didn't deserve that crap a present. Santa must have seen my expression which was impressive given i was in Nz and he was reputedly in the northpole. "Fear not my flightless bird its a CS IB." A phrase about polishing a high abv turd came to mind but i thought hey it's probably the last present I'll get as we're demolishing our chimney next year and there is no way he's squeezing through the heat pump pipe. The gift arrived in record time and to cut a long story to well a final end it was good, probably the best Auchentoshan the world had ever tasted. Raisins, xmas dark fruits, a lovely sherried dried oakiness and a warming aftertaste (although after a while it turned a bit drying and bitter). The end. PS thanks Santa aka @PBMichiganWolverine!

I know it’s all personal tastes and opinions, but for me, Auchentoshans never really have personality. , I feel it needs to be older and exposed to a lot of stronger well made casks to truly shine. Like us, right? We’re a byproduct of all the women/men we’ve dated and the people we’ve interacted with deeply for an extended period of time. We sort of changed in our personality every time we were with someone with a strong personality, and took bits of that to our next stage in life. Hopefully the culmination of that is what make us today in our personality. Similarly, I feel as if Auchentoshan really shines when it’s fimished or matured in casks that are much stronger than its base personality. This one for example, was fully matured 21 yrs in a sherry cask. Then bottled NCF and CS. You take something like an Ardbeg and fully mature it for 21 yrs in sherry cask, you’ll either end up with a masterpiece or a disaster, from two strong vying personalities. But you take a light timid personality like Auchentoshan and expose it to something that make it stronger, I think you have a better outcome than the original. Out of the few Auchentoshans I’ve had, the only one I’ve liked was a wine finished 26 yr old courtesy of @LeeEvolved . This one, I liked just as much—probably comes down to preference for sherry vs wine maturation / finish. Aroma is enticing...oranges and nuts. A bit floral. The palette is where it shines—-marzipan, orange zest, Christmas cake. Really well made. And for $100..a steal.