Whisky Discovery #88

Auchentoshan Valinch NAS (57.5% abv 2011)
Lowland Single Malt Whisky
Circa £38.00 70cl

The cask strength Valinch

This was another Auchentoshan that had been recommended to me by The Toshan Man, and was dram No.19 of the afternoon at the Whisky Lounge London

This small batch release is the cask strength edition of their 'Classic' and is bottled at 57.5% abv and is not chill-filtered.

The expression is named 'Valinch' after the name of the pipette used to draw whisky straight from the cask (also known as 'the whisky thief') which is an appropriate name for a whisky with all the depth of taste, flavour and texture associated with sampling whisky at source.

The Valinch has no age statement, which probably means it's a young whisky, but I have no confirmation of the make up so far. This was the first whisky created by Jeremy Stephens, Senior Blender of the Morrison-Bowmore group.

So What did I think?

With the colour of pale straw and the nose bursting with sweet vanilla and citrus, it really quite sweet and creamy in the mouth despite the high abv.

 I was expecting this to be quite exciting and I wasn't disappointed. I added a little water to the first dram as advised my the guys behind the stand, but went back for an immediate second dram and spent a little longer with it and really enjoyed it at full strength. This will be staying on my wishlist, I want more of this!