Vignettes – Moments in Whisky – Auchentoshan Visit – ‘Bottle Your Own & Toshan Man 1975 Experiment’
Distillery Visit
On Saturday 18th June 2011, Mark – together with his friends Niek & Ilse – returned to the Auchentoshan Distillery.
Jeremy Stephens, who’s become a close friend, moved on from being Head Distiller to Senior Blender for the Morrison-Bowmore group, allowed us to shoot some videos explaining the production process, but also allowed us to conduct a unique experiment in the Blender’s Room.
Warm Welcome
It was a pleasant surprise when the pulled into the parking lot of the Auchentoshan distillery to be welcomed by the guard at the gate with the words: ‘Ah, Mr Dermul, they are expecting you!’ Even more pleasant was to see the anticipation in the eyes of the Auchentoshan staff when we entered the visitor center. It felt like coming home. And in a sense, it was.
Mahj, Paula, Jenny, me, Jeremy and Christopher - my Toshan family!
Niek, Ilse and myself settled our purchases first, as our experience last year had taught us that we wouldn’t be leaving until long after the visitor center had closed. We were able to upholster our collections with quite a few wonderful bottles, such as the newly released Auchentoshan Valinch – a cask strength edition of the Classic, the first creation of newly appointed Senior Blender Jeremy Stephens (former Head Distiller). I was also eagerly looking forward to getting my hands on the Auchentoshan 1975, a limited edition of 500 bottles of this 35 Year Old whisky.
Production Process
After getting acquainted with the staff (it was a pleasure to meet Mahj, Paula, Jenny and Christopher), Jeremy took us along for another tour. We had done this before, of course, but this time we shot some informative videos in which the former Head Distiller explains the production process. Be sure to check that out here.
Mash Tun
After explaining about the mashing process, we moved on to the washbacks where the mysterious interplay between the wort and the yeast takes place to create the wash that will be charged into the wash still.
Washbacks
There are, of course, three stills at Auchentoshan: a wash still, the intermediate still and the spirit still. Jeremy went to great lenghts explaining why this is different from other distilleries and how that creates the strongest spirit in Scotland. Ah, the magic of triple distillation!
The stillhouse
We then moved into Warehouse Number 3, where the casks are stacked three high, during their long maturation. About 80% are Bourbon barrels, 20% sherry butts and a few wine barrels. Jeremy goes on to explain that whisky needs to be put in oak casks for a minimum of three years before it can be labeled whisky and also shows the effect of charring.
The warehouse
We then get the chance to fill up our own bottles.
Bottle Your Own – again!
When we were at the distillery last year, we bottled directly from a 1996 bourbon cask. It was – at the time – a 13 Year Old. Today, that cask is still there, but it’s nearly empty.
Bourbon Cask 11507 from November 1996
And since the cask was filled in november 1996, that meant that it had celebrated yet another year and it was now a 14 Year Old. That will make for an interesting comparison. We can taste both samples again and see what the extra year has done to the golden liquid.
It took quite a bit of work to get the whisky out of the cask, as it was nearly empty. That just made it all the more fun, of course. The valinch (which is the copper pitpette used to draw the whisky straight from the cask) went up and down quite a few times. And it meant that the spirit even had a few bits of the cask in it as well, as I pointed out to Jeremy. Exquisite!
After putting the labels on our bottles and stashing them in their own beautiful boxes, we took a walk around the grounds of the distillery and were amazed to see that it’s actually a domain of 78.000 sq meters! It was quite a walk! But very invigorating (apart from the occassional shower).
Toshan Man ‘Experiment 1975’
Walking into the Blender’s Room is always a rare treat. This is a beautiful place and not only because it’s nicely decorated. The sample cabinet is breathtaking and leaves us drooling in silence for several minutes. Jeremy offers us a few samples as well as a taste of the newly released Auchentoshan Valinch (the cask strength version of the popular Classic), the first whisky he put together as Senior Blender. After the first sip, I knew Morrison-Bowmore had put the right man on the right place. Jeremy knows his stuff, alright. The Valinch is marvellous. It’s got crème brûlée on the nose, with lots of vanilla, and pretty creamy too. It is a powerful whisky with a nice round body and great mouthfeel and tastes of toffee and orange peel. The lingering finish is quite sweet and lively. So I got me two bottles to start with!
But then something magical happened. Jeremy invited me to conduct an experiment. He offered me 8 cask samples from 1975 (!), 7 bourbon casks and 1 sherry hogshead. He put a blender’s glass in front of me and told me to create my very own ‘Toshan Man 1975’. I could hardly believe my luck. What an honour!
Cask Samples
You’ll appreciate the fact that this is quite a unique whisky as no notes were taken and the whiskies were poured into the glass ‘from the hip’, so to speak. A splash of this and a drop of that, on impulse. Hit or miss? Well, you can hardly go wrong with 1975 Auchentoshan, now can you? So it was bound to be good. And… it wasn’t. It was out of this world! A very creamy, lively dram with toffee, candid sugar, butter sprinkled with demarara, dark honey and some citrussy notes with a touch of raisins. But it was surprisingly lively, considering the cask samples were all 35 years old.
You must see the video as this was such good fun, we want to share it with all Toshan Men and Women.
Understandably, I was instructed to create just one dram – after all, these are precious cask samples not to be trifled with. But I did get to fill up a little sample bottle and still was able to taste my own Toshan Man 1975 expression and share it with the rest. The votes were unanimous: this was a fantastic dram. I plan to keep the sample for another few years in my cabinet, to open it up when I turn 50. I will then toast to Auchentoshan and that wonderful day in June 2011.
A big thank you goes to all the staff of Auchentoshan, for allowing me to conduct this unique experiment.
Niek, my friend who was born in 1974, was allowed to create his own ‘birthday dram’ as well from four cask samples from that same year. He was as happy as a kid in a candy store. Can you blame him?
We look forward to visiting the distillery again next year, during its Open Day, and hope to meet up with many of you!
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