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Auchentoshan American Oak

Writer's picture: S&PS&P

Updated: Apr 19, 2021

And we're wrapping up our third round today of buying and splitting 3 bottles each. Every round so far has been more exciting. The stars of round 3 have been Bowmore 15, Lagavulin 12, Amrut Fusion, and Caol Ila 12. Looking forward to round 4. We've got a 65% ABV Glenrothes coming up that we're excited about, a couple Ardbegs, our first Irish, and Oban Little Bay, which we've heard good things about. Cheers to many more rounds and ponders!


Auchentoshan American Oak, 40% ABV, ex-Bourbon, NAS. $53 CAD in Ontario.


We sniff around.


Simon gets all kinds of apples. Apple chips, apple concentrate.


We talk about what characteristics should we expect from a Lowland, because we would peg this as a Speyside blind. The trademark Lowland technique is triple distilling the beer, which lands you with a lighter bodied, cleaner distillate. With the lighter body you typically get the sweeter, more floral type of flavors. But honestly, we'd be hard pressed to peg anything as a Lowland. On a blind tasting we'd likely guess that our Auchentoshans are Highlands or Speysides.


Scott can pull a hint a cherry.


Trevor's on board with that. One of his main notes.


Simon gets a bit of a perfumy thing.


Kyle can't really get anything beyond the apple.


We cheers.


Simon gets perfumy apples.


Sean gets a wisp of smoke.


Simon likes that, like a unscented candle got blown out a while ago.


No one else on the crew follows suit on that.


There's a slight caramel. The cherry does not transfer.


Scott goes for an apple sauce with cayenne peppers.


Sean makes an anCnoc 12 comparison. That's fair. Light body, fruity sweet, little spice. He also says there's a peachy taste, like watered down peach iced tea, underlying.


We come around to that.


Reviews: Kyle's pick so he starts us off. It's pretty much what he was expecting. Not a ton going on, but it tastes nice. At the price point, light bodied, sweet, might make a good intro scotch. Not sure if he'd pick up a bottle but wouldn't turn a drink away. Goes 73. Simon follows up with a 70. Nice and light, the apple thing is good. Puts it on par Glenfiddict 12, could make a fine party bottle or intro scotch. Scott doesn't enjoy it as much. Agrees that it's on par with Glenfiddich 12 but that lands him at a 61. It has an odd numbing mouthfeel he doesn't like, it's boring. He would not recommend this as an intro scotch. He'd pick out something more interesting, something that would keep people coming back. Sean gives it a 67. It tastes a little watered down for him, but it's OK. Not a whole lot of exciting things going on for Trevor, but agrees it might make a good beginner scotch. Goes 70. Averages us at a 68.2.


Overall: We think you can skip this. Even at the $50 price point we'd point you towards Deanston Virgin Oak or Johnnie Walker Black. That said if you like the idea of light bodied scotch, apple forward, with a little cayenne pepper spice, then by all means, that's all you're really getting here.


Cheers!

The S&P Crew

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