The Toshan Man

Naked

Natural Color is a French company specialized in bottling spirits in their natural state, without coloring. The bottle cognac, Armagnac, calvados and rum, but obviously also whisky. A couple of their bottlings mention only the region without divulging the name of the distillery, but they also have a couple single malts that do proudly reveal the brand. It is the case for this 19 Year Old Auchentoshan from 1985, bottled in 2004.

On the nose, the delicacy that is typical for Auchentoshan is immediately revealed. Sweet on white fruit (apples, pears), floral (lemon grass) with vanilla and crystal sugar. Very grainy. Breakfast cookies. Limoncello. Fresh and mildly creamy. A little bubblegum emerges after a few moments. Hints of oak, but very light. Leave it for too long and it will lose strength.

Silky soft on the palate with barely any spices. Loads of citrus, both lemon and grapefruit. It dances on the tongue. Midpalate, the spices do come out and warm the throat. White pepper. Hints of nuts. Honey and more oak.

The finish is medium long, sweet and gives the oak the final say.

This is an Auchentoshan pur sang. Naked, if you get my drift. Loads of esters. Not bad, but it does not reflect its age. Could do with a little more punch. Why not bottled at cask strength? It tastes a lot younger than its 19 years. Around 70 EUR.