Review #36: Loch Lomond 18 Year

Distillery: Loch Lomond

Region: Highland

ABV: 46%

Age: 18 Year

Price: $120

Color: 1.3, Russet/Muscat. Natural Color and Non-Chill Filtered.

Apparently, Loch Lomond has two versions of their 18 year old floating around. One has a black label with a lion, the other a purple one with a stag on it—this is the latter of the two.

Nose (according to the wife): The scent of old leather furniture along with smoky medicinal peat. There’s a tad bit of sweetness hiding out in here, a bit like honey.

Palate: Nice and full mouthfeel. It starts out with a nice sharp note of fresh cut green apples and bit of freshly cut grass. While the apple is lingering, it gives way a bit to lovely smoky note which makes it feel like someone is smoking the apples in your mouth. Very rich and full of flavor. Absolutely delicious.

Finish: Nice and long. There’s a tidbit of oak spices and honey coupled with a bit of the lingering medicinal peat.

Conclusion: As a very early Christmas present, my lovely wife gave me a few decently aged Scotches. This is the first of the trio I am reviewing. It is fantastic. Starting with the nose, there isn’t even an inkling of the ethanol burn you can get from a whisky. The old leather furniture scent is homey and inviting. The palate starts off with a nice sharp burst of flavor that slowly develops into something completely different but equally delicious. The finish is lovely since the peat is enough so that you’re not wishing for more but not so much that you cannot taste anything else.

Final Score: 92

Scotch whisky review #36, Highland review #7, Whisky Network Review #48

Scoring Legend:

• 96-100: The perfect dram, nectar of the gods.
• 90-95: Near perfect, there is something truly special about this whisky.
• 85-89: Amazing, will always try to keep a bottle of this in my collection.
• 80-84: Very Good, maybe only one minor nitpick about the whisky keeping it here.
• 75-79: Good, quite enjoyable to drink.
• 70-74: Solid, wouldn’t go out of my way to get it.
• 60-69: Meh, still drinkable.
• Below 59: If you have a bottle of this, start cooking with it instead