Stop number 33 on the Scottish Distillery Tour is Auchentoshan. This is my first scotch from the Lowland region so I had a certain level of anticipation and excitement headed into this review. This single malt is bottled at 40% ABV, has colorant added making it a golden straw color, and it is chill filtered.
The nose is young and lively. Full of underripe pears, green oak and toasted coconut. Malty, barley sugar sweetness, vanilla, toffee and light cinnamon. It's grassy, like a mix of fresh green grass and dry brown grass. Some creamy citrus notes, like lemon cheesecake and a little grapefruit. This really reminds me of an unpeated version of the Bowmore Gold Reef. There is a touch of green apples and honey. A little mint and anise in the background. There are some bourbony notes. It I find them to be quite muted.
Vibrant and fresh on the palate. Coconut, vanilla cream. Pears and honey, cinnamon, toffee and nutmeg. More green oak. Pepper, not much but more than I expected. Definitely a young whisky and it shows.
Light to medium bodied and on the thin side.
The finish is medium length, dry, oaky and a tad green.
There is much more personality here than I expected but I believe that to be due to its youth. The fact that it's triple distilled reinforces that belief. I would love to try the 21 year old to see what a properly matured Lowland whisky has to offer. This is a good scotch, but it's immature to a fault. I'm not sold on Auchentoshan, but neither am I condemning them based on this one sample. Speaking of which, thank you to Ryan (Lee) for providing this sample. 3.25 seems accurate, especially for the low price of $35.
Cheers