Loch Lomond Single Grain (46%, OB, 2016)

• Category: Single grain scotch whisky
• Origin: Loch Lomond Distillery
• Bottling: Loch Lomond Group
• ABV: 46%
• Cost: £31.32

What they say:

Loch Lomond Single Grain Whisky is carefully distilled using only the finest malted barley. Distilled in our Coffey still, this single grain is smooth and sweet with added complexity not usually found in a single grain. Matured in the finest American oak casks under the watchful eye of Michael Henry, our master blender, ensures the perfect harmony of flavour and aroma.

On the nose

Fresh cut barley fields with a malty edge, biscuity, with baked apples alongside gentle lemon peel.

Taste

crisp & delicate. Pineapple juice & a lemon zestiness with a lovely vanilla sweetness at the end.

What I say:

Sampled as part of the #LochLomond Whisky Flash Blog organised by Steve @TheWhiskyWire and @LochLomond3. Single grain whisky made from malted barley and distilled in their Coffey stills, followed by maturation in American oak.

Colour:

Bright refractive gold/Sauternes (9/20), slow-forming, medium-sized droplets leave long, fine legs

Nose:

Sharp and refreshing, citrus lemon and spirit, cleanser or screenwash, fruity, estery, baked banana and foam banana sweeties, marker pen, malted cereal barley but with a shrink-wrapped in plastic quality, quite tight and closed in aroma, white pepper and grapefruit zest give way to lemon puff biscuits, with time softens into fudge and caramel

Taste:

Sweet and creamy initially, lemon meringue pie, becomes zesty and spicy, fresh pineapple, lemon and grapefruit juice with a dash of fiery tabasco sauce, ginger and ginseng, tannic oak wood with hints of vanilla and coconut

Finish:

Medium, zesty with staves of vanilla oak wood, more drying tannic spices

Overall:

Needed to breathe a little as initially quite closed tight and spirit vapours herald the Coffey still distillation. Thereafter the malted barley and American oak maturation take over and try their best to convince you this isn’t grain whisky. There is a lightness to the body and a slight response to water dilution also which may confound single malt drinkers. Overall sweet & spicy and easy-drinking with an interesting malty twist.

Score: 80/100

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