Scotch Review #54: Loch Lomond 12 Year

Distillery:Loch Lomond

Region: Highland

ABV: 46%

Age: 12 Year

Price: $29 (on sale from $40)

Color: 1.3, Russet / Muscat. Unfortunately it is chill filtered and has had color added.

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Nose (according to the wife): Some extremely ripe fruits in the form of pears and grapes and, unfortunately, a some rubbing alcohol.

Palate: It’s really sweet, almost too sweet and it kind of reminded me of corn syrup (specifically the light kind). There’s a lot of malt sweetness along with some honey and pineapple juice. There’s a bit of heat but otherwise goes down pretty smoothly.

Finish: Medium to short in length. There’s some candied ginger and some more heat.

Conclusion: I had previously tried, and loved, the 18 year old edition from Loch Lomond so when I saw this on sale, I thought why not. Another user referred to it as “whisky made from the oil quench of an iron foundry”. I don’t think it was quite that bad but it definitely is a complete different whisky from the 18 year old. There are a few decent things about it, but really outweighed by the bad. The ripe fruits in the nose are nice, though the rubbing alcohol isn’t. The pineapple juice in the palate is also nice, but the almost corn-syrupy sweetness isn’t. It is easy enough to drink so it’s not quite pour down the drain level of bad but I’d recommend skipping this and going straight for the 18 year old.

Final Score: 69

Scotch whisky review #54, Highland review #14, Whisky Network Review #72

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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.