Scotch Review #88: Royal Lochnagar 12 Year (Game of Thrones House Baratheon)

Distillery: Royal Lochnagar

Region: Highland

ABV: 40%

Age: 12

Price: $8 / 2oz pour

Color: 0.5, Yellow Gold.

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Nose: Fresh mountain stream water and damp grass.

Palate: Nice, light mouthfeel. There’s a lot of citrus in this one in the form of lemon and orange rinds along with some orange zest. Toward the back end, there’s a really wet old oak note. With a bit of water, a hint of cinnamon comes out.

Finish: Really short and dry. It so over-oaked, it’s like sawdust. Thankfully, a few drops of water takes care of the sawdust problem.

Conclusion: This bottle from the Game of Thrones series was one of the ones that barely made it to the state of Nebraska. I managed to track down the Oban while visiting my in-laws but this one was nowhere to be seen so I was surprised to see a bar have a bit of this left. Unfortunately, there might not have been enough left in it to really enjoy (as you can see the level from the picture). The nose is different but refreshing. The palate is nice, I really enjoy all of the citrus in here. The finish, however, is awful. It’s overoaked and just tastes like sawdust. Thankfully, a dash of water is enough to clear that up. Bit of a shame that I didn’t get to this early enough but it was nice to have tried. Would I buy a bottle? Absolutely at MSRP to get the full experience.

Final Score: 77.

Scotch Whisky review #88, Highland Whisky Review #24, Whisky Network Review #113

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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 (if feasible).
• 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.