Loch Lomond Original, 12 and 18 year olds, tasted on 27/05/21
The uniqueness of our pot malt stills rest in the cylindrical necks of the spirit stills. Traditionally the necks of malt stills are open. The Loch Lomond stills include special distillation trays in the necks, allowing for greater contact with the cooling alcohol vapour. This makes the process more efficient.
These stills can produce alcohol up to 90% ABV where normal stills deliver the alcohol at around 70% ABV. This style of still allows for different ‘flavour notes’ to be captured and emphasised through the range of alcohol strengths that can be captured and rejected. This is much more difficult to achieve through a conventional pot still.
Loch Lomond whisky
Loch Lomond Original, 40% ABV
Appearance
This whisky is light gold in colour, it has a reasonably viscous swirl line, and medium thick legs.
Nose
It’s quite light in aroma, digestive biscuits, sweet lemon, some dunnage, and i’d say a meat-ish note.
I have to say that i didn't expect much here tbh, so far there's more than i thought. #thewhiskeychaps
— Dram it Mick! (@StillSurreal) May 27, 2021
Palate
Now the palate is actually pretty good. It’s a little hot with cinnamon and Jamaican ginger cake. It’s got lots of tropical fruits, pineapple cubes, and mango slices, then stoned fruits too, and icing sugar.
Ah now that is a super shout, and i'll accept that for the note i can't put a name to, great shout. #thewhiskeychaps
— Dram it Mick! (@StillSurreal) May 27, 2021
Finish
I’d have to say medium in length, and i think the mouthfeel is better by this time. Definitely getting chillis, char, oak, dark chocolate and hot ginger, i have been officially surprised.
My thoughts
Having not tried a Loch Lomond whisky prior to this tasting, i genuinely didn’t know what to expect here, i thought the entry level might be a jobbing malt, simple and perhaps lending itself to cocktails etc. How wrong i was.
This whisky has quite a lot going on where the palate is concerned, to be honest it caught me by surprise, which is always a great result. I would say that it would add plenty of flavour to cocktails too. For £25 it’s better than some other entry level whiskies, and a great introduction dram for those new to whisky.
Loch Lomond 12 year old, 46% ABV.
Appearance
This is a darker gold with amber in there too, again a decently thick swirl line, and slow medium legs.
Nose
Straight away i get cocktail cherry juice from the jar, it has a good abv feel too, i’m definitely getting biscuity/cereal notes, cherry crumble?
Nose: Sugar coated red apples. Icing sugar and some berry tinged new makey notes. Better! 🙂 #thewhiskeychaps
— Whisk(e)y Chap 🏴🥃 (@whiskeychap) May 27, 2021
Palate
Ooooh thats super syrupy in mouthfeel and flavour, lots of confectionery sweet flavours, old sweet shop aromas all day long, i’m really liking this tbh. Lots of Opal fruits for us older lot, lol, it’s just so juicy. I’m getting toasted bread now too, chocolate digestives, dark chocolate orange.
This is matured in 3 casks: bourbon casks, refill casks and recharged casks.
— Whisk(e)y Chap 🏴🥃 (@whiskeychap) May 27, 2021
#thewhiskeychaps
Finish
Long side of medium in length, it’s spicy, with oak, chillis, marmalade, and black liquorice, very nice imho.
My thoughts
Yes this is better, and it’s an absolute fruit/confectionery bomb, my personal fav profile. There’s a lovely mouthfeel that’s quite syrupy, and the finish brings dark spicy flavours. Overall for a 12 year old whisky it offers so much flavour. I’d buy a bottle, as a good sipper it certainly has it’s place in my opinion.
Loch Lomond 18 year old, 46% ABV.
Appearance
Dark gold in colour here, it has syrupy thick teardrops and swirl line, with slow thick legs.
Nose
Initially we have Nutmeg, dunnage, dates, figs, earthiness, and cherryade.
Palate
Straight in with dark chocolate orange again, cask char, black tea, pontefract cakes, tea cakes, and cola cubes. It’s inviting and warming, quite bold and nicely married, this is a good dram in my humble opinion, iv’e really enjoying it and It has a super mouthfeel also.
@whiskeychap both good shouts, and blackcurrant jam too. #thewhiskeychaps
— Dram it Mick! (@StillSurreal) May 27, 2021
Finish
Loooong and super warming, i can’t understand how this dram never gets mentioned on SM, it’s a really impressive dram. Much like the palate, with ginger nuts, and cinnamon, chilli’s added.
Each expression is a different combination of spirit types, the Original the lowest peat just a touch. The 12yo has about 10% medium peated giving smoke coming through on the finish with the 18yo having 15% heavy peated spirit giving the spice flavours coming through
— Michael Henry (@LLBlender) May 27, 2021
My thoughts
This dram has impressed me to be honest, there’s loads going on on the nose and palate, i have slightly simplified all of the notes for each of these whiskies, as we tweeted about them on the evening. It has loads of depth, and it’s very well put together too. Coming in at around £80 at the moment it isn’t cheap, but i will say that it’s a lot of flavour for the money, if i had the money available i would be tempted to buy one, it depends if i have my eye on something else.
Overall tasting thoughts
Having no experience previously with Loch Lomond whiskies, and not reading or hearing much about it on social media, this tasting has been an eye opener. The level of fruitiness and confectionery sweetness in these whiskies is wonderful, especially as that is my preferred whisky profile. Doing this in a vertical tasting style also gives a wider understanding of the range, i thoroughly enjoyed the tasting.
Thanks to – LLBlender (Twitter).
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