The Auchentoshan Valinch was first released in 2011, and was one of the nicer Toshans I’ve tried last year. Its essentially a young NAS , high strength ABV (like all NAS’s should be, if you ask me..) which made me say : Wow. Auchentoshan can release good stuff(read my notes of the 2011 here) . This was back in 2011 and a new batch was released last year, and was the 2nd whisky we tasted on our personal #lovefirstfill twitter event (me and Sjoerd after missing out on the official twitter tasting due to DHL slow and faulty service – yes, Don’t use DHL). I had high expectations from this one, and I must say, they were not fulfilled.
Auchentoshan Valinch 2012 – 2nd Release , 57.20% , £36.88
Nose: Very funky nose at first, quite young and untamed. reminds me of young Kavalans / Amruts , but not in a good way, since those are rather excellent most of the time.Clearly needs some time in the glass to become approachable (or so I thought at first, but it never became a good nose, not even after an hour).
Palate: Sandalwood, some shaved oak, warming, very sweet, and rather dry. a bit of spicy, the ABV is very much felt here,it’s untamed.
Finish: Sweet stuff , wood, sugar and egg yolk liquor.
It’s a fierce dram, but somehow i feel it was bottled prematurely, before the wood had tamed it enough to be approachable and pleasant. I do feel that batch #1 was much better. I wonder what M.Dermul says about this one. so Mark? 
Score: 79/100
official sample provided by Morisson Bowmore