Once again the duty-free shops of the world’s airports have made the choice of getting another Auchentoshan breed an inevitability. This time instead of Blood Oak we get another blood-related wood thing – Heartwood. It genuinely does live up to that name of being a warm and woody drink, but it’s sadly not that simple.
Not a whole lot to say this week because when you are forced to type out the below because it’s new packaging so the text wasn’t written beforehand – you tend to want not add on more.
What they Say: “Bottle: Auchentoshan stands alone. Born in 1823, we are Scotland’s only remaining distillery to insist on triple distilling every drop. Auchentoshan Heartwood Scotch Whisky combines the perfect balance of rich whisky aged in Oloroso sherry casks, with a nuttiness from bourbon cask maturation. www.auchentoshan.com
Box: WE ALWAYS TRIPLE DISTIL Auchentoshan stands alone. Born in 1823, we are Scotland’s only remaining distillery to insist on triple distilling every drop. This collects the highest concentration of new make spirit in the country. It gives our whisky an unmistakable flavour – only triple distillation allows the smooth, complex flavours to develop as our spirit matures in fine oak casks. BECAUSE TASTE IS EVERYTHING.
THE TASTE OF HEARTWOOD To the eye – Dark honeycomb. The nose – Fresh coffee. To the tongue – Vanilla develops into a rich mouthfeel with plenty of fruit. To the end – Dark and drying, with winter fruits lingering on and on.
PRONUNCIATION NOTES People here say ‘ock-un-tosh-un’. How you say it – and drink it – is up to you.
FINE BOURBON AND SHERRY CASKS Heartwood is the staunch wood at the oak’s core – just as maturation in Oloroso Sherry and bourbon casks is at the heart of our whisky
American Bourbon Casks
We choose two sizes of bourbon casks – hogsheads and barrels – to mature Auchentoshan Heartwood Scotch Whisky. This helps create a light citrus and creamy vanilla flavours.
Oloroso Sherry Casks
No other cask has such a profound effect on single malt scotch whisky. The result is a rich, dark and nutty liquid, with an unmistakably full body.”
Taste: 7.0 – It starts off all warm and dare we say – heart.
Aftertaste: 7.0 – But the aftertaste is all wood and it gets into your nose and all over, and it’s great.
Burn/Smooth: 7.0 – There’s a twinge of a whiskey burn, but the warming almost clam nature of the whiskey make this negligible
Aroma: 7.5 – It has a heat and warmth to the wood. It might be reading too much into it, but it actually smells like the word heartwood makes you think.
Honesty: 6.5 – Listen Auchentoshan we love you, but don’t pontificate too much, slow it down, let the whiskey talk. Heartwood and the branding and colour are too good though we can’t be excessive in demerits.
Mixability: 5.0
W/ Rocks: 5.0 – It’s an okay sipping whiskey, but no – You drink this neat or not at all
Value: 7.0 – This is actually on the fairly cheap side (that low taxed Sherry casks), and considering other shan’s it’s actually a fairly good choice.
Google Shop Average: $38
Website: http://www.auchentoshan.com/
Reviewer Scores:
BuffaloJern: 7.0
Want to compare this spirit against our archives? Visit our statistics page.
Metric Score: 47/70 |+| Metric Average: 6.71 |+| Reviewer Average: 7.0
New to Honest Booze Reviews, or just wondering how we score? See our FAQ/Review Policy.
Final Thoughts: Based on the diversity of the line, we once again see why if you’re looking to start someone on their journey of scotch, it should start with Auchentoshan. From there you can branch out into the overall better and diverse world of scotch, and let Auchentoshan be the first guide to the breadth that scotch can cover.
