The Toshan Man

Summer

The Ultimate is the brainchild of Han and Maurice van Wees from the Netherlands. They started selecting casks in 1994. The already bottled three sistercasks from Auchentoshan, all of them bourbon barrels : 800041, bottled in March 2011 (and in my Toshan collection), 800043, bottled in September 2011 and 800048, bottled in January 2012. I will try the second cask, which might have been a bit tired judging from the very pale colour of the whisky.

Well, the nose, while closed at First, is rather nice. I get some vanilla and peach, but also white fruit, mostly pears. Beeswax makes it somewhat creamy. Light on the spices.

Yep, on the palate, the creaminess returns. And suddenly it is very sweet, sweeter than the nose promised. Loads of esters. Soft and delicate, like a Toshan ought to be. Touch of pepper. Unfortunately a bit light.

The long sweet finish remains nicely fruity.

This is a nice little aperitif, that simply begs to be poured in these summer temperatures.

I also tasted a sample from cask 800048, which was bottled in January 2012 and found it to be very similar, only a tad less sweet.