Auchentoshan 1999 Bordeaux Cask Matured

Colour is lighter than the port pipe Bruichladdich but still a rich red.

Starts with a sulphury nose, little swish and it moves toward spicy oak and cherry wine.

Firey at the tip of the tongue, finishing with the wine-y character of the nose. At 58%, needs some water, and becomes a little bit softer, but still a sharp heat and some cherry.

Two years ago, Auchentoshan bottled a unique whisky: it had matured solely on Limousin oak of the French Bordeaux house of Saint Julien (exclusively for the duty free shop World of Whiskies). This new one is the follow up of that bottling. I believe the WoW-bottles were a test - a successful one, I might add - so the distillery decided to bottle more of the same for the general public. The ABV has gone slightly down from 58,2% to 58%, and (as I found out while tasting them head to head) has improved slightly.

Sweet and sour are still in a headlock over supremacy, but the summer berries (gooseberry, currant and juniper) come out victorious. The sour touch is tangerines and grapes. I even get some chocolate and something meaty and flinty (unexpected, but not unpleasant) on the nose after leaving to breath it for a while. There is a touch of cinnamon and cloves. The nose has improved quite a bit.

The whisky is very creamy on the palate and again makes me associate with red summer fruit. The wine influence is obvious (how can it not be, when this whisky matured solely on red wine casks for 11 years?), but pleasant, more so than on the previous WoW-bottling. Contrary to the WoW-bottling, this one can cope with water elegantly and improves both the nose and the palate. What I call a ‘swimmer’.

The finish is dry and short, with a bitter edge. I like it.

If it is indeed the same whisky as the previously bottled 1999 Wine Cask for World of Whiskies (which I believe it is), then it has improved quite a bit. So hopefully the folks at my favorite distillery have a few more of these in the warehouse for bottling over the next couple of years. I like where this is going.

The Nose: The front of this has a big fruitiness you'd expect from something aged exclusively in a wine cask. There is build up into vanilla, grape skins and a pasta cream sauce on the boil. To the back there is something of an off note, which at first it's hard to describe!

It becomes almost meaty, but offers candied orange zest, cinnamon and clove spice.

Over time it becomes a little like like the decaying leaves in a forest after a heavy rain fall. For those not so familiar with this smell, I'd say it's a little like a crisp pungent brown sugar sweetness tainted with a slight element of used tea bags in a bin of fresh food scraps.

The Palate: A burst of sweetness is very quickly followed by the sort of bitterness you get when biting into a grape seed. The initial finish is drying and peppery with the bitterness lingering.

Coming back to it you get more of the fruit element; blueberries, cranberry, gooseberry and a hint of sloe gin. Whipped cream with fresh vanilla & cinnamon chase the finish, but continues to suggest some drying bitterness.

A pleasant dram with an interesting nose! I could see this as an appetizer with canapés of thinly sliced ham & creamy cheese.

It's definitely one I'm going to have to come back too!