Auchentoshan Virgin Oak versus Glasgow Distillery Virgin Oak

The Battle of the Virgin (oaks)!! 

Both are triple distilled, both from the Glasgow postcode, both non chill filtered and both 46% abv. This should make it a great comparison to play with.

Colour 

Both whiskies have an abundance of sunshine and orange glow with the Auchentoshan taking the slightly darker, more toffee orange approach …. perhaps giving a hint of what’s to come; and the 1770 with a more mellow apricot hue.

Nose

Auchentoshan : plays with sweet notes, caramel, reminding me of when we make sugar baskets and tuille biscuits in the restaurant, loads of vanilla and delicious smelling.

Glasgow 1770 : again, lots of variants of the sweet caramel, sugar but there's a deeper fruitier note, more vanilla cream with plump juicy apricots that's been soaking in gomme syrup or honey.

Taste

Auchentoshan : triple distilled whiskies for me are generally very smooth and this doesn't disappoint, a sweet coco hangs around with candied boiled sweets, almost creamy with good structure.

Glasgow 1770 : again delivers on the sweetness and smooth flavour, but there's a richer darker flavour at play here too, a pepper and spice at the fore front that mellows into vanilla and fudge, a little bit of aniseed too making it nicely complex.

Conclusion

For this time of year, with the sun shinning as I write this, both whiskies really deliver on the sweet, lighter smooth style that fits in so well with the summer season and I have to say I really enjoyed them both!  A great duo, with oodles of candy, toffee and vanilla. Its really great to try different barrel and cask expressions and in my opinion a fantastic addition to both distilleries so I am calling this one a tie.

My only gripe with the 1770 is the use of Loch Katrine water source as a selling point, as I’m a weegie myself I know the water has to come to Glasgow from Stirling through 30 miles of pipes and aquaducts and Loch Katrine is not exactly a "local" loch. Don’t get me wrong the water helped me become the 6ft 2 tank I am today, but bubbling mountain stream it is not!

Auchentoshan is a limited release and can be found at most good whisky sites for around £65 a bottle 70cl and Glasgow 1770 has just been released and can be found on their website for £49 bottle 50cl making them both around the same price per litre. Although there does seem to be general dislike of 50cl bottles certainly with my friends ….. maybe its because the drams go so much quicker.

Whisky Forager