Our single malt scotch whisky has been a labour of love for years.
We’re not cutting any corners here. Everything we do, from our wooden washbacks to our on-site racked warehouse, is focused on producing the highest quality spirit possible.
Forget your preconceptions about Lowland whisky, Lochlea is different. Using our own barley unique to Lochlea, nurturing a long fermentation and being meticulous with our cut points creates a new make bursting with orchard fruit and elegant beyond its years.
Lochlea distillery
Notes – This bottling is from a combination of first fill bourbon and PX casks.
Appearance
An orange hue to a lighter than mid gold colour, with a nice thick swirl line and a few thick slow legs.
Nose
First aromas to come to me are a lovely sweet cream soda, with a floral/ perfumed note, and I’m going to say apricots and oranges. Slowly a dustiness comes through, with sweet pineapple, rose water, and Turkish delight.
More time and and starts to spice up a bit, wood is more apparent, but overall it’s coming across as quite sweet.
Palate
A decent mouthfeel greets me straight away, and it’s a bit of a spice bomb, the 1st fill bourbon casks are really coming through. Sweet lemons, then white pepper, cinnamon, greens grapes and ginger.
My mouth is salivating now, there is a lovely play between the sweet lemon raisins and figs.
Heavier darker notes are slowly coming through at this point, black liquorice, blood oranges, root ginger, mocha coffee, cigar leaves and damp leaf litter.
Finish
The finish carries on from the mid palate, with the addition of dark chocolate, molasses, and yet an icing sugar sweetness still manages to push itself through.
My thoughts
Inaugural releases have become a hot topic in whisky circles, whisky loving folk aren’t happy with the price of some new releases, considering they are barely “Whisky”. Here i am sampling an inaugural release from the Lochlea lowland distillery, that iv’e just found online for close to £42, the original price, and also more often for £250, and it’s not the distillery’s fault.
With all that aside, what do i think of it? Well i happen to really like it. I found the nose wonderful, very inviting, and it want’s to be imbibed and enjoyed. The palate offered plenty to keep me entertained, and i personally see where they’re heading with the distillery’s words of producing a “flavour profile unique to Lochlea”. In my opinion they have, and it offers a kick to the usual Lowland whisky profile.
Bottle image courtesy of The Whisky Vault.
A big thank you goes out to Nick, a whisky friend, who sent me a generous sample to try. Feel free to follow Nick, our Whiskey chaps account and our individual Accounts on Twitter using the buttons below.
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