Scotch Review #56: Loch Lomond Original

Distillery:Loch Lomond

Region: Highland

ABV: 40%

Age: NAS

Price: On sale at $22 (originally $28, I think)

Color: 1.2, Chestnut/Oloroso Sherry. Unfortunately it is chill filtered and has had color added.

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Nose (according to the wife): As she puts it, it’s ambiguous and kinda hard to tell what it’s supposed to be. It’s not sweet, it’s not bitter, it’s not spicy, it’s kinda rubbery but not really. It’s really just a mess.

Palate: The mouthfeel is really thin and light. It starts off with a nice big punch of milk chocolate (like drinking out of bottle of chocolate milk) which gives way to some nice malt sweetness. A bit of honey and vanilla follow the chocolate and malt before it finishes with some light peat. It’s delicious. My biggest gripe with this is that the chocolate is really present in the first sip or two but it isn’t quite so present in the ones that follow.

Finish: Really short, gone in a flash. I would guess this is a really young whisky, it’s got a lot of that youthful heat in the finish. There’s are some iron minerals in the aftertaste which aren’t particularly nice.

Conclusion: This is the third Loch Lomond expression I’ve had a chance to try. I loved the 18 year old, I didn’t care for the 12 year old. Since this expression is a low ABV, NAS one, I really didn’t expect a whole lot out of it. Much to my surprise, this was pretty good! At least for the first few sips, that is. While the nose is pretty meh and the finish could use a lot of work, the first few sips deliver a delightful flavor packet. The milk chocolate plays really nicely with the malt sweetness, honey, and vanilla to really make you want more of it. It’s not too sweet either and finds that nice goldilocks zone of sweetness. However, after the first few sips, the chocolate becomes harder and harder to find and it turns into a decent, easy to drink, but ultimately un-interesting dram. At a higher ABV (like cask strength), I can definitely see this one being a real winner. For $22, it’s pretty good.

Final Score: 73 (First few sips I would rate ~80)

Scotch whisky review #56, Highland review #15, Whisky Network Review #74

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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.