A lovely parcel arrived in plenty of time for the tasting allowing us grateful recipients to take loads of photos and ramp up the publicity. Last year Loch Lomond agreed a five year deal to sponsor golf's Open Championship in the UK, and released a number of new bottles under their #SpiritOfTheOpen campaign. This year they've added a few more which we were going to try for the tasting.
So what was in the box?
- Most expressions in Loch Lomond's core range use spirit styles from both shapes of stills, as a limited edition, the Distillers Cut only uses spirit from the straight necks to show how still shape helps the character of the spirit. It has 5% peated spirit made from 50 ppm phenol with wide cut 65% collection strength and matured in a combination of 1st fill & refill ex-bourbon barrels and refill American oak hogsheads.
The Open Course Collection Royal Portrush 19yo Claret Wood Finish (50.3%)- Portrush is a combination of three unpeated styles - swan neck stills, straight necks collected at 65% and straight necks at 85%. Individual spirit styles were distilled between 1995 and 2000. All were filled into refill bourbon for their first maturation. The casks were selected and batted together before being filled into red Bordeaux wine casks from a chateau in the Medoc region for a six month finish. This finish in ex-claret casks is a ‘homage’ to the Open Championship trophy and in recognition of Portrush as home to two winners of the Claret Jug. This is a special dram for Loch Lomond's Master Blender Michael Henry as he grew up 3 miles from Royal Portrush golf course in Northern Ireland where this year's Open will take place.
- Created to celebrate Cristie Kerr winning her first LPGA tour win and becoming a Loch Lomond whisky ambassador. Michael Henry used 100% unpeated spirit from straight neck stills collected at 85% from 2002 stock. It was finished for 4 months in Kerr Cellars supplied 2016 Calera clone Pinot Noir French oak red wine casks.
25yo Three Wood Matured (46.3%) selected in partnership with Colin Montgomerie- The spirit was first matured in refill bourbon barrels before being finished in a combination of 1st fill oloroso and new Limousin oak casks. The spirit is unpeated and is 100% from straight neck pot stills collected at low strength. This is a cask strength whisky from a set of 500 bottles.
So first up on the night was the Distiller Cut.
My thoughts: pale gold, almost wine, in the glass, swirls bead up immediately and fall as slow thick legs. Initial nose orchard fruit.Nose: Loads of stewed apple and pears but with a citrus note - some grass and biscuit with a little hint of ash.
Palate: Lovely smooth arrival - again a lot of fruit as the nose - apples, pears, apricots but with the citrus note coming through more strongly - a slightly sour grapefruit note - YUMMY! It's very drying in the mouth with an almost icing sugar quality. I think there is a little smoke note in here - more noticeable on the palate than the nose - mixes well with the fruit notes!
Finish: Long and fruity, there's the dryness from the palate and again a hint of smoke - lovely dram!
Other tweeter's thoughts:
Next up was the 19yo Royal Portrush.
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| What an amazing colour! |
My thoughts: A lovely winey pink in the glass, swirls bead up slowly and fall as thin slow legs. Initial nose: smoky toffee apple
Nose: Toffee apples around a bonfire - very earth but with notes of vanilla, black cherries and sawdust - dunnage warehouse anyone? Getting a citrus note in there too - a little grapefruit again like the first dram?
Palate: WOW - unexpected thick arrival, loads of ginger spice and an instant dryness in the mouth. There's a hint of orchard fruit but loads of red berries, black cherries and dates.
Finish: Fruity, the sour citrus note comes back on the finish along with a little hint of smoke. The spice is subdued a little from the palate but balances nicely with the fruit. YUMMY
Other tweeter's thoughts:
Our third dram was the Kerr Cellars Vintage 2002.
My thoughts: Dark gold in the glass, swirls bead up to form a crown and fall as slow thin legs. Initial nose: fruit and nut chocolate?
Nose: A packed bar of milk chocolate - it's got raisins, orange peel, strawberry pieces, dried pineapple and so much more!
There's also hints of citrus and cappuccino - wonderfully complex.
Palate: Loads of fruit and spicy ginger to start, again really drying in the mouth. This one has the sour citrus note from the Director's Cut. There's a little strawberry, red grape and a woody oak note.
Finish: Very drying, again a balance of fruit and spice. The grape skins really come through. There's no smoke on this one like the previous two. Nice dram!
Other tweeter's thoughts:
Final dram of the night was the 25yo Triple Wood Matured.
My thoughts: A lovely gold in the glass with maybe a hint of orange? Gravity defying swirls eventually fall as slow thin legs. Initial nose: smokey vanilla.
Nose: Apple strudel (thanks @whiskywings) with thick vanilla custard, with spice notes and orchard fruit. Hints of red fruit, orange peel, dark chocolate & nuts. 25 years maturing in 3 different cask types giving a complexity that takes time to unravel!
Palate: Thick but watery arrival - tropical fruits and spices vi for space on the tongue. There's pineapple, figs, dates alongside ginger and chilli. Faint hints of citrus and red fruit too. Nice but can't help feeling a higher ABV would have made this better?
Finish: Like the palate - fruit and spice vie for attention - the icing sugar dryness and sour citrus note that I think is a bit of a house style comes through more.
Other tweeter's thoughts:
So 4 lovely drams but for me the 19yo Royal Portrush came out top - beautiful colour, beautiful nose and beautiful in the mouth!
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| Casks of Royal Portrush in the warehouse at Loch Lomond (Photo LL) |
A fantastic evening trying some fantastic drams! Many thanks to Steve for organising, Loch Lomond for supplying the drams and my fellow tweeters on the night!
For @whiskysophie this was her first Tweet tasting and she shared her written tasting notes with us!
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