Antique records from the year 1800 mention an illegalDuntocherdistillery, which may have been a predecessor to the legal Auchentoshan distillery. A license for distillation was obtained in1823. It is the only Scottish distillery left employing a true full-time third distillation. This makes for asweeterandmore delicate Scotch, which is unique. The Distillery is located nearGlasgow(that’s why it’s also known as Glasgow’s Malt Whisky) in theLowland region of Scotland.
There will be no roommates for this dram.Auchentoshan Virgin Oakabsolutely refuses to share it’s barrels with any other spirit—this means no ex-Bourbon or Sherry casks, and no high-faloot’in fancy-pants wine barrels either. ThisLowland single-maltspends all of its days in brand new charred oak. Sure, there are a few other Scotch Whiskies experimenting with new casks, but remember that Auchentoshan is the only distillery in Scotland thattriple-distillsit’s spirit, so that lovely malty goodness enters the barrel at162proof (yep … that’s81%ABV), and that makes a difference here.
Re-using casks that have been used to age other beverages is sometimes called“seasoning”the casks because not only does a hint of the previous resident remain in the barrel to flavor the new stuff, but theestersandvanillinin the wood (the stuff we are trying to get at) are loosened up a bit. Well, that unusually high ABV is mighty powerfully stuff that jumps into the casks saying,“Seasoned barrels? We don’t need no seasoned barrels!”That sweet, powerful spirit gets down into the grain of that new wood better than most and releases all of that wonderful,mysterious oak-tree-magicthat we all love, and givesAuchentoshan Virgin Woodmore than a leg up on the competition.
By the way … Auchentoshan Virgin Wood is alimited editionthat they have been tinkering around with since the turn of the century. Once it’s gone for the year, that’s it.
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