Auchentoshan

One of the few triple-distilled single malts in Scotland, in May of 2008, Auchentoshan (pronounced ‘OKKen-TOSHan’) went through a revamp; bottle labels were altered, the range was changed and the visitor centre was renovated. The origins of the distillery are quite shrouded, it originally started life under the name ‘Duntocher’, which was first mentioned around the turn of the nineteenth century. In 1834, it was renamed Auchintoshan, taking from the Gaelic ‘achad oisnin’ or ‘corner of the field’.

Geographically, it lies only just within the Lowlands and, although a Lowlander, Auchentoshan’s water source – near the Cochna Loch in the Kilpatrick Hills, is, in fact, in the Highlands. During the Second World War, bombing on the Clydebank shipyards, which lie in close proximity, left the Auchentoshan distillery greatly damaged with a substantial loss of spirit. In 1948, reconstruction began and the distillery was also given the new, modern spelling ‘Auchentoshan’.

In 1984, the distillery was bought by Morrison Bowmore, which itself became a subsidiary of the Japanese company Suntory a decade later. None of the current range is peated, and at the heart lies the 2008 release, ‘Classic’, an eighteen year-old and ‘Three Wood’; matured in Oloroso, Pedro Ximinez Sherry and Bourbon casks.