The Toshan Man

Coffee & Gooseberries

I tried a single cask Auchentoshan from the German bottler Anam na h-Alba (meaning ‘the soul of Scotland) before and thought it was magnificent. That was a refill sherry hogshead. Now comes along a sherry butt from which 150 bottles were filled for the Whisky Festival in Oberhausen (Germany), organized by Just Whisky. It is a distillate from 12th February 1998 that was bottled after 17 years, on 8th May 2015.

The nose can easily be abbreviated to coffee and gooseberries. But then some orange marmalade, almond paste, raisins and brown sugar join in. It takes a couple of minutes for me to recognize the character of my beloved triple distilled. Active cask, eh? Wonderful nose, by the way.

Mouthcoating and silky soft on the palate. Almost creamy. Quite spicy. Think nutmeg, ginger and some saffron. Dark and sweet, if you know what I mean. Some chocolate, too. A bit dry as if from leather, but creamy enough to keep you occupied for a while. Good body. Becomes dryer still.

The wood puts its foot down in the long, warm and spicy finish with some tannins.

Very nice cask selection. I quite like this. Thanks, Dirk at Dram242, for the generous sample.