Auchentoshan distillery is known for being the closest distillery to Glasgow, its malts often being called ‘Glasgow’s malt whiskies.’ The distillery is one of six lowland distilleries, and is characterised by floral, light and airy malts. Another feature is their practice of triple distilling all their expressions, a practice they do seem to boast of quite often. This makes their malts similar to Irish whiskies, which are also triple distilled. I’ve previously encountered their 12 YO version and found it to be a wonderful sample for the sort of malts that Scottish Lowlands produce.
The Auchentoshan Springwood is one their travel retail exclusives, and neither the packaging nor the bottle itself feature any age statement. To the eye, it is a pale barley in colour- and the packing label confirms that caramel colouring has been added.
On the nose, the malt gives notes of peach and dry fruit, with notes of dark chocolate giving a full under-layer. With a dash of water, a nice tropical whiff comes once the malt is aired, with some hints of dates. To the palate, the malt is spirity and full, dry and nutty. A subtle fruity vein runs through it, stopping short of staying through the full swallow. At 40% ABV, this palate does not really make it for an exciting malt.
If I were to compare, the Springwood does not come close to the 12 YO in character- but travel retail offerings are not really meant to be the best expression of a distillery’s potential. In my view, travel retail offerings give a wide sample of any distillery’s experiments, allowing the Master Distillers to bring out various ranges that they can test across a diverse audience in a short time. I wouldn’t buy the Springwood again, but I certainly will try the Auchentoshan Heartwood if I come across it- if only to see more of Auchentoshan’s range.
Notes
Eye - pale barley Nose - peach, dark chocolate Palate - dry, nutty, peachy fruit ABV - 40%