Tasting Notes: Auchentoshan: 12 Year

Auchentoshan 12 Year (Scottish Lowland Single Malt Whisky: 12 Years Old: 40% ABV)

Visual: Darkened golden syrup with light speckles.

Viscosity: A few instant streaks, then the rest slowly pucker, picking up pace as they descend.

Nose: Toffee and cream, syrup and marshmallow. Grass fields and light planed wood. Sugar sweetness. The nose weakens significantly with water.

Body: Golden syrup, vanilla extract and caramel ice cream sauce. Touch of lemon. Honeycomb and light malt chocolate with water.

Finish: Syrup, dry wood. Mashed grain. Fresh. Water adds nice chocolate elements to the finish and a little honey.

Conclusion: The nose on this is pretty decent, sweet toffeeness. The body and finish are much more generic sweetness. Not terrible, but somewhat lacking in character.

It does improve slightly with water, but this harms the main selling point – the nose, which loses a lot of its toffee character.

Not one that’s a top malt, but its not bad, just doesn’t play in the same league as its peers.