Auchentoshan 11 Years Old 2004 Distillery Exclusive (60.1%, OB, Oloroso Cask #933, 2015)

Whisky Review

• Category: Lowland single malt scotch whisky
• Origin: Auchentoshan Distillery
• Bottling: Suntory – Distillery only
• ABV: 60.1%
• Cost: £70

What they say:

Distilled 23rd September 2004 and matured for over 11 years in Oloroso cask #933 before bottling at the distillery on 16th October 2015 at natural cask strength of 60.1% ABV.

What I say:

During our last visit to Auchentoshan it was nice to see a range of distillery hand-fill casks on offer, including both Bordeaux wine and Oloroso sherry cask examples. I simply couldn’t resist the nose and colour of the Oloroso example!

Colour:

Blood/ruby red (10/20)

Nose:

Massive nose, figgy, walnuts, leather, chocolate, cocoa-dusted almonds, pralines, Christmas spices, oak wood, herbal? dry & chalky, rich moist fruitcake & Christmas pudding

Taste:

Thick syrupy molasses, dates, prunes, fig, raisin, walnut, chocolate & coffee, burnt sugar, crème brulee

Finish:

Medium long, oloroso sherry; dried fruit and nut,

Overall:

A lovely single cask Oloroso sherry whisky/Christmas in a glass – massive amounts of pure flavour make this solid and not overly complex. I feel the Auchentoshan spirit character may have been well lost in here…but that is forgivable as this is an awesome dram.

Score: 89/100

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