Lowland distillery, Auchentoshan, produces some very quality offerings. Their floral and creamy characteristics also take on flavors from finishing casks easily and quite well. Blood Oak is a travel retail exclusive from back in 2015 and can still be found on numerous shelves and websites around the globe. It’s an NAS blend that was finished for around a year in Bordeaux red wine casks and ex-bourbon barrels. Rumor has it that the whisky is around 6-7 years old, in total. It’s non-chill filtered, has no added color, and like all Auchentoshan it’s triple distilled. Bottled at 46% and runs just shy of $70. It’s a beautiful, dark copper in the glass. Oily and fat legs run down the sides of the Glencairn after a healthy spin, leaving behind loads of tiny, beaded water near the rim. The nose is predominantly dry red wine and oak spirals. Cherries and juicy citrus mingle with Auchentoshan’s typical floral notes. A quick, hard sting of youthful spirit will get you if you go in too hard or too early. Let this one sit and breathe a bit. The palate is floral and enticing from the beginning: raspberries, honeysuckle and orange slices greet your tongue at first sip, with creamy vanilla and oak cask dominating the back end. The youthful spirit also comes charging in and combines with the red wine dryness to sort of shock the tastebuds. It’s not as subtle and smooth as the 25yo red wine offering from a few years ago, but it’s also 1/3 the price of that bottle. The finish is still long and fruity, kinda hot and peppery unless you cool it down with water. Lingering spice and a drying feel bring it to a close, but there’s a light berry flavor clinging on even after sipping some water to cleanse the palate. Like I said, it’s not the 1989 Red Wine Cask 25yo I had last year, but I still adore the wine barrel influence here and would gladly buy another bottle of this one for the price. You can get a much older Auchentoshan for $20-30 more, but this distillery shines with some sort of finishing cask. I’d trade those decades old bottles for more wine finishes. 4.25 stars. If you see a bottle of this or a cheap pour I recommend giving it a try- it’s complex and delicious. Cheers.