Auchentoshan Select

The old Select from the early 90s of last century come in two different packaging. One with the word Select on it and one without. The bottle without was destined for the Italian market, but the whisky inside is the exact same Auchentoshan Select.

The nose is pretty fresh, despite the fact that it has been sitting in the bottle for almost twenty years. No OBE on this young Auchentoshan nose. Loads of sweet malt, hints of green apples and lime. Very light, very fresh. Typical for summer.

It is a bit oily on the palate, but silky soft. Totally devoid of any bite. Sweet malt again, toffee, lime and a hint of banana. Aniseed?

The finish is very short indeed.

A light weight, no two ways about it, but it does not pretend tob e more. This is the ideal dram to enjoy on a sunny terrace, even with a cube of ice in it. I know, I know.

Big let down from this distillery, Wood grain polish cleaning solvents mixed with damp over used poor cask.

Nose: Initial wood and banana soon give way to freshness, distinctly of green apple and orange peels. Later, more vanilla toffee comes out before the nose fades to light and sweet green apple pulp.

Palate: Honey and green apple peels at entry, turning to the delicate lightness of the green apple pulp with accents of lime zest.

Finish: Faint with light green apple, but tingling vibrantly with lime.

Although I may have hesitated to purchase this due to lack of depth, this is a great whiskey to have in the collection. Because it is so light and smooth, it is great as an evening starter, before continuing with other (almost certainly) heavier whiskeys. I imagine it will also be a wonderful refresher on warmer summer days, and that there will be little problem having 'non-whiskey people' enjoy it: It would be hard to actually "dislike" it.

My score reflects that the lack of complexity is more than compensated by smoothness and utility. Though not the "best", I can see the bottle needing replacement more quickly than others. Not a bad reason to travel again, to get to the Duty Free shop....

With the arrival of het new duty free releases of Auchentoshan last March, my contact at Auchentoshan told me the Select, which moved to duty free in favor of the Classic, will slowly but surely be phased out. So I went out of my way to secure a few more bottles. Having said that, we are trying a bottling from 2004 at this time.

This one, despite not being that old, suffers from OBE. Quite surprising, I must say. Maybe we should invent a new term for that. YBE, young bottle effect? Unpleasant, of course. The delicate nose of Auchentoshan is disturbed by Brussels sprouts and gym shoes. So I will leave it for a while. But even after a quarter of an hour, it remains unfresh. Behind that smell, hide a handful of toffee, citrus and young apples.

The typical Auchentoshan character does reveal itself on the palate. A lot of fruit, apples and citrus, a hint of honey and caramel. But it never really recovers.

The finish is short and fresh, mild on spices.

Well, this remains an entry level malt, of course. And a bit sick from the OBE. ‘Nuff said.

The Auchentoshan Select is, since the rebranding in 2008, hard to find at retailers, since it was moved to the duty free market. I purchased my bottle (1 Liter) directly from the distillery's online shop.

This Lowland has no age statement.

The nose is very fresh with green apples, oranges and even a little banana. It has a pinch of vanilla too. A little caramel or toffee in the background. Adding a few drops of water brings out some passion fruit. I like it!

On the palate, the dram is - as to be expected - sweet and very fruity with apples and lime as the main players. The drams remains very light.

The finish is short, sweet and completely biteless.

Definitely better than the Classic, but not as complex as the Three Wood or 12 Year Old.