Auchentoshan Virgin Oak Batch Two
Too much Oak
0 256
Review by @whiskydallas
- Nose15
- Taste15
- Finish16
- Balance10
- Overall56
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Distribution of ratings for this:
- Brand: Auchentoshan
- Type: Scotch
- Region: Lowland
- ABV: 46%
There has been several distillers releasing a virgin oak product, Glen Dronach and others. This is a new release here in Ontario and I was curiouso about the virgin oak experience. Although the description suggests apple maple chocolate caramel and a bit of orange zest, unfortunately I found none of that. I gave it 10 minutes and after several nosings I could not get paste the wood, that the only scent I could discern, oak and only oak.
Although smooth, the taste is just as the smell, Oak, oak and more oak. If you like the taste of wood then this is for you. Even after some water , nothing but wood comes through. Although warming and smooth I think they blew this. No, chocolate, no fruit, no barley, no caramel notes.
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@whiskydallas, greetings, and thanks for your review. I surmise that there is no age statement for Auchentoshan Virgin Oak. I've not tried this one, but have had the Deanston Virgin Oak, and the Stranahan's Colorado Malt Whiskey, which is also made from new oak. New oak is tricky with barley-malt whisk(e)y precisely for the reason you have pointed out: it is very easy for the strength of flavours from new oak to overwhelm the flavours from barley grain. It makes all of the difference in the world whether that new oak is charred vs being toasted, though. Charred new oak releases the wood flavours quickly and intensely. If the new oak is toasted and not charred, then the oak flavours are very restrained, subtle, and light by comparison.
Jim Murray made a huge mistake by having described the aging of Glenmorangie Ealanta as having been in the style of a bourbon. Bourbon whiskey by US law requires aging in charred new oak. Ealanta used toasted oak, not charred oak. If Ealanta had been aged those 19 years in new charred oak, there would have been no barley to have been tasted through all of the intense flavours from oak. But since toasted oak was used, the flavours from the virgin oak were subtle and refined even after 19 years of aging.
I am very curious as to how Auchentoshan, Deanston, GlenDronac, etc. are handling the oak prior to aging. It makes all of the difference in the world with respect to what you will taste in the final product.
Stranahan's Colorado Malt Whiskey, in Denver, uses charred new oak, but they age rather lightly, typically 4 or 5 years. With Stranahan's you can sense that if they took that aging much farther it would be just too much oak. As it is they provide plenty of oak, and not just quantity of oak: the flavours coming out of new charred oak wood are chemically qualitatively different than the flavours from re-used oak barrels.
In summary: it is a tricky business to use new oak with barley.