Exhausted
The Coopers Choice range is a label of the Vintage Malt Whisky Company, a relatively young independent bottler (founded 1992). Their best known release is probably Finlaggan, the undisclosed Islay malt. Their Coopers Choice is always a single cask. This is a 17 year old Auchentoshan from 1991 (they also have a 6 Year Old Toshan from 2001).
Ouch... I expected fruit and vanilla again, but this one... err... stinks! Gone is the fruity character, replaced by something that reminds me of melted cheese and olive oil. What is going on here? I need to put it aside for quite a while before the first signs of the delicate character shines through. Pity! After about five minutes, I finally get some lemon and caramel. The longer you leave it sitting in the glass the better it becomes. Luckily.
The attack is rather fierce with very sweet lemon, sprinkeld with white pepper. After that, it is all cereal notes and quite some wood. Not very complex. Rather... a let down, taste wise.
The finish is grassy and sweet, but offers nothing of interest. Bitter disappointment indeed, this Toshan.
Some research learns that this was a refull bourbon barrel. Clearly, the barrel was already 'exhausted', for both the level of color and complexity of this 17 Year Old Auchentoshan leave a lot to be desired.
@WhiskyNotes: this one got a 71 in my book. The scoring system here doesn't allow further distinction, sorry. Whisky this mediocre - even if it's my much loved Toshan - I'd rather not score at all.
I don't get the score. Does Auchentoshan get 7 points by default, regardless of the quality? ;-)