MALT IT, MILL IT, MASH IT

Our trademark clean, complex character starts with malted optic barley. Gently kilned, completely unpeated barley lets the Auchentoshan taste shine through, from our distillery in Glasgow.

We grind the barley to suit our lauter tun. It’s vital we have evenly milled starch grits, maximising the amount of starch that magically transform into sugars during mashing. All this hard graft means a fresh-tasting, clear wort from the lauter tun.

We feed the milled, malted barley – and pure water – into our lauter tun at 63.5°C. The heat helps turn the starches into sugar. After two fillings we are ready for fermentation – the third filling is used as the first water in the next mash.

Distillation takes our Distillers Beer from around 8% ABV (alcohol by volume) up to 81%. No other Scottish distillery insists on triple distilling every drop – double whisky distillation usually reaches just 70% ABV. The Auchentoshan story is about Distilling Different to create a Lowlands whisky.

WE TRIPLE DISTIL EVERY LAST DROP

Our oak casks have a huge influence on flavour – so we spend a lot of time and money selecting them.

The right casks.
The right setting.
The right weather.

If a spirit wants to be called Single Malt Scotch Whisky, it must be matured in oak for at least three years – no less. We go much further.

Our whisky is matured in casks which held bourbon, sherry or fine wine. A selfless act of recycling? Not quite. It’s an essential step in creating Auchentoshan – the spirit and the wood work together over many years, lending colour and flavour to the finished whisky.

So it’s no surprise we spend so much time and effort selecting precisely the right casks – or indeed in balancing the unique flavours each cask imparts. That way, we create a whisky with flavours right across the spectrum.