Loch Lomond 2024 Open Golf Releases

@LochLomondMalts release a pair of bottles (and usually some special editions) for each Open Golf Tournament.

This years to celebrate the 152nd at Royal Troon have just been released!

The pair of bottles are the reasonably priced Open Special Edition (OSE), a NAS at 46% for around the £45 mark and the more expensive Open Course Collection (OCC) usually a 19+ year old age statemented higher ABV release for anywhere from £160 upwards. This years OCC is a 24yo at £290 so I won't be buying one of them anytime soon!

Just let me clear up that I am a huge Loch Lomond Fanboy, I buy most, if not all, of their releases. I buy them myself, they don't send me any samples to review. Most of you will also know that I have a top limit of £100 a bottle so haven't bought any of the OCC bottles when they are released but have picked up a few for less that £100 when they have been on offer.

I've reviewed previous Open Golf releases here and last year's here. This review is concentrating on the 2024 OSE release which was finished in Chardonnay wine casks. but for completeness here's a little info on the OCC release first.

Distillery info:

2000 24yo 152nd Royal Troon

"Distilled at Loch Lomond in the year 2000 in our remarkable stills. This whisky has been taken at a range of collection strengths to create a complex whisky that showcases our capability in distilling and our unrivalled ability to impact flavour. 

This 24 year old whisky celebrates every Open championship from the 1st ever at Prestwick back in 1860, through to the 152nd Open this year at Royal Troon. The Open Course Collection Single Malt Whisky has been crafted by Michael Henry our Master Blender, starting its maturation journey in American Oak barrels and hogsheads, with an additional finish in the finest Manzanilla butts from Jerez, creating a whisky with the signature style of fruit, honey and soft smoke found in Loch Lomond Single Malt Whisky.

The Manzanilla sherry finish creates an additional rich nuttiness and salted caramel layer on our signature style, creating a whisky that has notes of baked apple, nutmeg, lime, cinnamon, with hints of marzipan and toasted oak on the finish.

The Open Course Collection single malt is bottled at 47.1%, non-chill filtered with natural colour to keep things just as nature intended."

Nose: Honey, vanilla fudge, pineapple, candied citrus peel.

Palate: Salted caramel, baked apple, lime, nutmeg and cinnamon.

Finish: Long finish with marzipan and soft smoke.

So on to the 2024 Open Special Edition, this year it's described as "finished in Chardonnay wine casks, creating a profile of honey blossom, vibrant orchard fruit and toasted oak, perfectly complemented with soft smoke on the finish".

Distillery info:

"Michael Henry, our Master Blender, has crafted this expression with Colin Montgomerie to explore the influence of aromatic and luscious French Chardonnay casks on the Loch Lomond signature style.

A range of casks are hand-selected for finishing in 1st fill Chardonnay wine casks to complement our signature distillery style with additional depth of flavour. These exceptional Chardonnay wine casks help craft a subtle whisky that has notes of honey blossom, vibrant orchard fruit and toasted oak that

perfectly complements the soft smoke on the finish.

Non chill-filtered, bottled at 46% and presented in a carton bearing Colin Montgomerie's signature."

Nose: Lemon citrus, green apple, pear, vanilla.

Palate: Vibrant orchard fruit, fresh peach and pear, blossom honey and toasted oak.

Finish: Medium length with cinnamon spice and soft smoke.

Let's see what it's like!

My thoughts:

Appearance: coloured☹️to a dark gold, swirls cling as a thin line, take a little time to bead up and fall as slow thin oily legs.

Nose: gentle smoke, orchard fruit & citrus, typical LL but there's a little extra caramel sweetness and a little mustiness. A little time and air offers cereal and peach notes.

Palate: sweet arrival: runny honey, toffee & stewed apples. A little smoke, orchard fruit, milk chocolate & citrus with gentle dry spice. The cereal and peach notes come through as the liquid disappears leaving smoke and spice on the tongue.

Finish: lingering spice, tropical fruit and gentle smoke.

Overall: this is a mixture of spirits from Loch Lomond's Straight Necked Pot Stills taken at High Collection strength (Inchmurrin), some at Low Collection strength and a little heavily peated Low Collection Strength. (More about Collection Strength geekiness here!) As is usual with LL it was mostly RF bourbon matured to let the spirit character shine through, A range of 8-10 year old casks were then finished in FF French Chardonnay Wine Casks for an undisclosed duration before a final marriage in RF Bourbon. It's a nice dram, it's fruity, spicy and has a lovely gentle smoke. For me it's not quite up to the level of last year's lightly peated Rioja wine finish but still worth a case!

Geeky Stuff:

Here's a list of all of the OSE & OCC releases:

Year	Open Special Edition	Open Course Collection
2024 Blue Box	NAS 46% Ex-bourbon Chardonnay wine finish	Royal Troon 2000 24yo 47.1% Manzanilla finish
2023 Black Box	NAS 46% Ex-bourbon Rioja wine finish	Royal Liverpool 2000 22yo 48.2% Organic Barley / Organic American Oak
2022 Blue box	NAS 46% American Oak, Claret Finish	St Andrews 22yo 48.2% Haut-Medoc Claret Barriques finish
2021 Red box	NAS 46% Ex-bourbon 3 types American oak casks, Virgin Oak finish	Royal St Georges (Darren Clarke) 20yo 50.2% English Virgin Oak finish
2020 Grey tube	12yo 46% American refill oak. Chardonnay Wine Yeast fermentation	None
2019 Green box	NAS 46% 3 types of American Oak	Royal Portrush (Darren Clarke) 19yo 50.3% Claret finish
2018 Blue box	NAS 46% Ex-bourbon. 30% Chardonnay Wine Yeast	Carnoustie 1999 19yo 47.2% refill American Oak