Singapore Exclusive Single Cask Auchentoshan

One of the big whisky Events in recent memory is the release of a Singapore exclusive, 30 years old, single cask Auchentoshan. This was on sale for $888 at 1855 Bottle Shop's Wine and Whisky Week (with an Auchentoshan 21 as a free gift), and available for tasting at Whisky Live 2018. The people I went to Whisky Live with swerved this bottle, due to an inherent bias against Auchentoshan. Being a triple distilled spirit that is best known for being...smooth and innovative with casking, did my friends perhaps fail to give this old, rare, exclusive whisky a fair hearing?

They did not, but they were right anyway. I tasted a small pour, but actually poured most of it away. Was not worth my limited alcohol intake quota. Sigh. I should have known - if you can buy a 30 year old single cask and get a 21 year free, all for SGD$888, there must be something wrong. This is a country in which regulation Glenfiddich 12 is sold at $120. Oh, the disappointment.

Auchentoshan, single cask, 1987 vintage, Singapore Exclusive (abv 55.1%)

Colour - This is single sherry cask, so it is fairly dark gold

Nose - Alarm bells already. Sulphurous notes that sometimes come with sherry casks. Leather, meaty, red wine tannin, parsley, cloves, cinnamon dust, vanilla. This is...I mean, not unpleasant, but I don't know where the Auchentoshan went to.

Palate - Sherried, definitely. Similar notes to the nose, with more honey. Meatiness and tannins again. This was not a sweet sherry cask. The sherry fruitiness comes out, but more dark and preserved fruits than bright, fresh fruits. So, some rum soaked raisins? And a bit more cinnamon powder

Finish - Slight peppery tingle, lots of wood, drying tannins.

Overall - This isn't bad. But you can't taste the distillate under the 30 years of oak influence, and it wasn't even that active or dominant a sherry cask. Auchentoshan is perhaps a little too light to mature for that long a time? I think this reinforces my generally lower opinion of Auchentoshan as a spirit that is useful for drawing flavours from the cask, but is relatively bland itself. $888 for this and a bottle of the 21? I rather get 3 

Baying for Blood

Screen grab Master of Malt

The World Cup's over, France won, I don't have any French whisky...so...French...wine...wine casks...guess we're doing Auchentoshan's Blood Oak today. Impeccable logic.

The Auchentoshan spirit isn't the most complex. At its best, it is "subtle", which is some way of saying that it hints at many things, but doesn't really have any real stand-out profiles. But if well-balanced, contains breadth, changes over time, then subtle can also be bloody brilliant. However, for something that's at plus-minus $100 from Duty Free, you're probably not going to get top notch Auchentoshan. The secondary maturation, or finishing, is therefore usually of great help.

The Blood Oak is matured partially in red wine casks that are, I don't know, oozing with red wine residue in the wood as a result of some deep charring thing. Ok, too much chemistry for this time of the night. Bought for me from DFS by CO. More than a year ago, just opened a month back. Thanks!


Auchentoshan Blood Oak (abv 46%)

Colour - Blood. Ok, kinda like most other red wine whiskies...dark amber-ish

Nose - Raspberries, a particular type of red currant syrup drink that my church sometimes uses in place of the Communion wine substitute (yes, a cheap replacement for cheap wine). Vanilla and coconut, a certain creaminess, like custard. Spicy, on...nutmeg?

Palate - Surprisingly a little hot. The vanilla and cream helps to take some sting off. Slightly tannic and meaty, like some varietals of reds. Nutmeg, cloves, a little herby too. Bitter, like orange pith.

Finish - More red currants and raspberries, some continuing spicy notes, meaty wine notes.

Overall - Decent whisky at a decent price! The wine casks do the Auchentoshan spirit a big favour, I think. I've placed this whisky on the backburner for quite a while before finally opening it. Been about a year. Won't say I'm missing out on a lot by not opening it sooner.

The next bag of CNY drinks

Had a crazy fun session a couple of nights ago. Here are some notes taken from the evening...

Macallan 18 - This is the newer Macallan 18 Sherry Oak, which says on the bottle that the whiskies were taken from 1997 or older. Which is pretty much what the number "18" was supposed to indicate anyway. Superfluous clarification. But maybe that's part of the whole marketing plan.

Colour - dark gold

Nose - sherry. Raisins, fresh grapes, a bit of spice, caramelized sugar. Very sweet nose, with just a hint of some spice. Smells like cinnamon

Body - Rich and fairly full-bodied. A little oily.

Palate - A very nicely sherried whisky. Apart from the grapes and raisins, there's vanilla, choccolate, a healthy dose of spices, including cinnamon and something that stings a little, like pepper or chilli. Drying. Was colouring added? This dryness reminds me of artificial caramel colouring...hmm. probably not.

Finish - wood, spice, and a small puff of smoke. The alcohol burnt a bit on the way down in a warming sort of way.

On the whole, this was pretty enjoyable, and several people's favourite of the night. Macallan still produces quality; the issue is with the pricing...

Macallan Estate Reserve - A newer whisky by Macallan. This one tastes fairly similar in terms of the overall flavours, but the Estate Reserve has a much larger wood presence. The oak can be smelt and tasted from the nosing all the way through to the finish. In my opinion, this made the nose more complex, but masked/replaced much of the richness of the palate. Can't say much else about this; I'm not sure if I'm tasting it properly after having the rich Macallan 18.

A drink of water to wash the mouth, and off we're off to the next one!

Hibiki 17 - Ok, yes, I did say that the whiskies reviewed in this blog are going to be more affordable, but the Hibiki 17 doesn't fall within that range. But hey, it's CNY!

Nose - Floral, like the Hibiki 12 was, but more mature. Flowers in full bloom, rather than just freshly bloomed.  Ripe fruits, including apples and pears. Grain sweetness - vanilla, bourbon-like.

Palate - sweet grains. An excellently balanced and smooth blend. Rich, ripe fruits. Slightly jammy, and a little spice. And is that a little bit of peat? From the Hakushu perhaps...? Or is my tongue playing tricks on me...?

Finish - A little spice, balanced nicely by wood.

Japanese mastery. A fairly big step up from the Hibiki 12, but a big step in prices too, in the present climate...

Balvenie 30 - the star of the night.

Nose - Pears, which are apparently DW's favourite fruits. His wife was surprised by that fact. No one knew. Plum. Honey, lots of honey. A little bit of almond and pencil wood, in a nice way.

Palate - boomz. Very, very smooth. The alcohol is nicely blended with the rest of the liquid (as it should after 30 years in the barrel), and comes across as a warming complement to the flavours, helping to bring them up to the tongue. Slightly spicy. Fruit, feels a little like pears poached in wine. A touch of chocolate. Almond, oak, and a bit of coconut. The entry has a bit of the taste of fresh grass or moss. Very complex, rich, and well-layered.

Finish - Wish I could, but alas, it's not my bottle to finish. Oak, cinnamon, plum again, burnt sugar. JE insisted that there was something else in the finish, but since no one could read his thoughts and put words to them, then it shall have to be passed over in silence.

Amazing. It was 30 years well-spent.

Other drinks of the night...

Auchentoshan Three Wood - Now we're back in affordable range. Nice complex whisky, this one, both on the nose and the palate. Some online reviews criticize this whisky for trying to be too many things at the same time, with the three different wood treatments. There's some sour winey notes on the palate, like sour grapes, but doesn't detract from the niceness of the other flavours - a bit of chocolate, a bit of raisins, a bit of a whole bunch of other stuff. The sourness also reminded me of pomengranate, or grapefruit/pomelo. A little odd, but not unpleasant.

Glenfiddich 18 - Smooth, even by an 18 year old's standards. Unfortunately, in the company of the other beasts of the night, the Glenfiddich 18 was fairly forgettable and flavourless. Not much alcohol burn, simple, straightforward. Some vanilla, some suggestions of sherry cask influence, a little oak. Could be a decent regular drink, but a little flat, flavour-wise.

So, with these brief notes on 6 whiskies, the CNY whisky count is up to 9! Just 6 more, and there are 9 days of CNY left!!

*Also available for the night were the Yamazaki 18, Hakushu 18, JW King George V, Crown Royal North Harvest Rye, and Taketsuru 21. I already have notes for the latter 4. The Yamazaki 18 only made an appearance late in the session, and  my tongue was already numb and tired. So, I skipped it. Maybe there'll be an opportunity to do a tasting of the Yamazaki 18 sometime later...