Auchentoshan gets a luke warm response from many whisky fans I have noticed. Quite a lot of people seem to find the official bottles boring and timid but not me. After the ultimate tour I went on last year I know the distillery has a lot to offer so perhaps a single cask offering from a well regarded independent bottler can change peoples mind?

The Dram

Douglas Laing’s Provenance line of whiskies is there brand into the cheaper end of the single cask market. This 14 year old cask is one of the older ages in the outturn which is generally single digit ages.

It is bottled at 46% ABV with no colouring or filtering so those are three large ticks straight away. This small 20cl bottle was around the £15 mark I think and was bottled in March 2017.

Tasting Notes

Colour – pale pale straw

Nose – super sweet, chemically sweet. Icing sugar but then it develops an acidic tartness from an apple pie.

Palate – Decent mouthfeel is about the only positive. There is not a heap of flavours going on here. Lemon oil and cheap honey.

Finish – a swift finish with is very nondescript.

Final Thoughts

This is a disappointing cask and highlights the potential dangers of buying single cask bottles. Auchentoshan is always tripled distilled which produces a more pure new make spirit. This also means that the taste of the new make is much closer to a neutral taste profile which makes it a great canvas for a wood driven whisky. The problem comes when you have a cask like this one and the wood gives you very little in 14 years. It is marginally better than a vanilla flavoured vodka.