A while ago, Brian of Brians Malt Musings (link) sent me a selection of Loch Lomond Whiskies, over the course of 5 days I tried each one, this Blog Post 6 is my thoughts.
You can catch up with all of Brians own tastings over on Twitter (link)
or by visiting his blog using the link above.
First up we have:
Loch Lomond Open Special 2021 46%.
Nose: Fruity and vibrant with malty pear. Damp early morning still air, barley sugar. Touch of a herbal note.
Palate: Sweet with a touch of honey, medium thickness. Malty biscuit, cinnamon sugar coated baked pear. Slightly winey. Thin ribbon of smoke. Alcohol is offering a little nip.
Finish: Oak, lingering cinnamon is joined by hints of nutmeg. Faintest whiff of smoke. Slightly bitter aftertaste.
This is similar to the Loch Lomond Signature, which is bottled at 40%, but this has just a bit more oomph in the nose, palate and strength, but still quite delicate. Very enjoyable.
Loch Lomond Open Special 2023 Rioja Finish
Nose: Quite a heavy and almost meaty nose. It's rich jammy red fruits, a touch of burnt rubber. The red wine is dominating the nose suggesting a touch of water could be needed. There is a floral element giving some softer elements of vanilla and gooseberry. Alcohol is not showing much.
Palate: Thick and syrupy. Malty biscuit, jammy red fruit, dark chocolate. No sign of the burnt rubber. Alcohol is giving a spicy burn then there is whisper of dying smoking embers.
Finish: Smoking oak, touch of chilli and dried red fruit.
More meaty than the Open Special 2021, this is not as delicate.
Once the last of the liquid has left your mouth and you taken a couple of deep breaths the smoke makes another appearance.
With the addition of water, the smoke starts to make an appearance on the nose.
With water, on the palate it’s juicier, even thicker, the biscuit and fruit become a fruit malt loaf with elements of caramelised brown sugar. If possible the alcohol brings more chilli sensations.
The oak smoulders more with smoke.
This is a fantastic whisky, Michael Henry and the team at Loch Lomond have hit a hole in one with this Open Special.
Still available to purchase from Loch Lomond (link)
Loch Lomond 2013 9 Year Old Oloroso Finish 55.9%
Nose: Rich Fruit, creamy, fruit cake with prominent notes of cherry and sultana, there is dark chocolate and baking spices. Overall it’s rich and offers complexity.
Palate: Sweet, syrupy, rich sherry soaked fruit leading to figgy pudding. Winter spices, creamy dark chocolate fondant. Distinct Oloroso is present with a nutty and sligh saltiness. Alcohol is bringing in enough heat but its more chilli spice.
Finish: Hazelnut, oak bitter & drying touch of salted caramel chocolate.
This is really thick and viscous. There is complexity of flavour from that sherry finish that needs water to help it relax and release the distillery character.
Added 5ml water to dilute it to approx 47%
Nose with water: Dunnage earthiness, bourbon character is breaking through offering some orchard fruit, fresh hay, caramel and vanilla. Milk Chocolate replaces the dark chocolate.
Palate: More approachable but not as intense or concentrated. There are still elements of a fruit cake but also now vanilla sponge. Its more oaky with ginger and cinnamon baked apple & pear.
This dram still has more to reveal so I add another 5ml water, diluting it to around 40% ABV
Nose: Fresh hay is now the dominant note with orchard fruit coming through strongly with vanilla toffee.
Palate: Sweet, creamy toffee pennies, still some oily texture. Touch of apple and pear. Almost no sign of any sherry notes.
This is an amazingly complex whisky, I should imagine leaving it longer in the glass with just a drop of water to start would reveal the bliss point for nosing and tasting, however, at each stage of adding water produced a completely different whisky, very much a chameleon of a single malt. My second favourite of the tastings.
It is still available at The Whisky Shop (link), however you may need to be a W Club member to buy.
Loch Lomond 2010 11 Year Old 21/546-5 Bordeaux Red Wine 54.9%
Nose: Dry red fruit, a touch sour, acidic maybe. Quite vibrant herbal or vegetal note leading into spices. Elements of black tea and chai tea. Almost an oriental feel to it.
It’s a wonderful nose, very complex with lots of development over the moments nosing.
Palate: Sweet, rich berries and stewed red fruit, very jammy. Syrup texture with honey. The initial combination of flavours suggesting red jelly babies, this leads onto baking spices and then into a quite drying bitter oak. Another sip and there is dark bitter chocolate with hints of salted caramel.
Finish: Oak, Red liquorice, chocolate coated mixed dried fruit with the occasional nut.
This is a delicious dram. It constantly evolves, giving a dominant note, which then gives way to a completely new flavour which dominates. It needs water to relax it a touch.
2ml water revealed malt biscuit popping on the nose. The alcohol is giving a little singe.
On the palate it is now more juicy with summer fruits, but still the spices do their merry dance, but now joined by red chilli and bizarrely Garam Masala. The oriental character has developed into more of an Indian one.
Just wow 🤩 needless to say, but this is my favourite of the tastings.
Loch Lomond Botanic Road 46% ABV Manzanilla Finish
Nose: Fresh and Clean vibrancy, citrus with an undercurrent of herbal notes such as sage and rosemary. Then some honey, vanilla and toffee popcorn. A very inviting nose.
Palate: Syrupy texture with a juicy hit of apple, pear, lemon honey and sherbet fizz. That herbal note is there but it’s more vegetal, mainly freshly cut hay but there is also hints of basil & pine nut.
Finish: Oaky citrus tang with ginger & nutmeg with some chilli heat.
This is another wonderful whisky. Very easy to drink, while it has a complexity that needs time to develop, if you want to explore it more, it also presents as an easy sipper, not many whiskies can pull that off.
Thanks again to Brian for sending me the samples to try.
I already knew how good Loch Lomond Whiskies were, having bought several myself, the thing is, I've never had a disappointing Loch Lomond Whisky, even their lowest price bottle, the Loch Lomond Original Single Malt Whisky(link) offers fantastic value and a great introduction to the distillery. If you haven't tried a Loch Lomond Whisky yet, then consider a tasting pack available from the distillery online shop (link)
You can read more about the history of the distillery following the link below:
