Side by side: Single Grain or should that be Malt?

Loch Lomond's Distillery, just North of Glasgow, is really two distilleries in one, a Malt distillery using malted barley in Pot Stills and a Grain distillery using grain in Column Stills.

Photo: whisky.com.gr

But, interestingly, sat in one corner of the Malt distillery is a set of Column Stills....

Loch Lomond's Malt distillery was built in 1966 in a converted dyeing factory, it started with a pair of straight necked pot stills with rectifying plates (not Lomond Stills!), a second pair were added in 1990. 

A Grain distillery was added next door in 1994 to produce whisky for blends. The standard grain mash bill for blending is 90% wheat and 10% high enzyme malted barley. This is distilled in the large continuous stills and taken off at 94% strength

A pair of swan neck pot stills were added in 1998 and a third pair of straight necked pot stills were added in 2017.

Neil Wilson wrote:

"It isn't on the list of distilleries that more than a million visitors to Scotland descend upon each year. it isn't situated on some windswept, romantic, island shore and it isn't very pretty. But it is very, very clever."

Three of the four original straight necked pot stills with two swan necks at the centre top.

In 2007 Loch Lomond installed a copper continuous column still designed by the then production director John Peterson, a variation on the Coffey still, it produces whisky using a 100% malted barley wash from the same washbacks that charge the pot stills. Although a you can see from the picture below it's clad in stainless steel the columns are internally made of copper. 

So that's a single malt isn't it?

Well for a couple of years it was until, in November 2009, the SWA changed the rules so say:

"Single Malt Scotch Whisky” means a Scotch Whisky that has been distilled in one or more batches—

(a) at a single distillery;

(b) from water and malted barley without the addition of any other cereals; and

(c) in pot stills

Loch Lomond had built the stills in an attempt to drive down energy use in the distillery and meet the Government's Climate Change Levy Targets for 2011.

But it was point C that caused the issue with the SWA, they said it "is not following traditional practice", even though the Coffey Still was patented in 1830... The SWA argued that the public expects whisky they buy labelled 'Single Malt Scotch' to have been produced in shiny copper onion shaped stills using the distilleries own floor malted barley dried in the pagoda roofed kiln house, next door, in a pretty little distillery in the mountains.... (or something close to that!)

The new 2009 regulations meant that Loch Lomond were no longer able to label the product as a single malt, so instead it's now sold as a single grain. The two-column continuous still, consisting of an analyser (with 24 sieve plates) and a rectifier (with 40 sieve plates), takes in 3,500 litres of wash per hour producing  around 300 litres of 85% ABV new make spirit per hour. The rectifier has a density meter in the spirit take off so spirit can be taken at different strengths from up to 8 plates at the top of the column. The still can run continuously, being fed from multiple washbacks if required, to produce as much spirit as needed at the time. 

Loch Lomond's 100% Barley Continuous Still

So what does a continuous column still do?

"A still can consist of one to five (or more) columns, plumbed together sequentially. Dozens of plates inside each column divide it into segments, much like the interior of a bamboo stalk. Each plate has a perforation that lets vapor pass through and condense into liquid inside the next chamber, where it later vaporizes again and passes through the next plate. Spirit exits the top of the system, while spent mash falls to the bottom. 

As the number of plates increases, so does the amount of reflux, which results in a higher strength spirit with fewer heavy congeners or impurities. Add enough plates, and eventually you’re making vodka, stripped clean of the flavours of the base material. Continuous column stills can still make flavourful products at low rectification without heads and tails extraction. This means distillers have less control over choosing which congeners to include in the final spirit. 

Loch Lomond’s two different continuous column stills are an elegant illustration of this principle. In the grain still, they take the cut at an average of 94 percent giving  a clean spirit but without too much flavour, as this is ultimately a base liquid for blending. The spirit from the 100% malted barley Coffey still is taken at an average of 85 percent, which captures more of the compounds and keep more flavour in the new make spirit.” (spiritedbiz.com)

The spirit from the continuous still goes into American oak casks – 1st fill bourbon, refill bourbon and recharred American oak barrels. The recharred American oak barrels are used for blending and the bourbon (first and refill) are used for Single Grain bottlings.

Michael Henry, Loch Lomond's Master Blender says:

"We have tried different yeasts and different take off strengths on the still so haven’t really even started to use it to its potential for creating different flavours. As the flavour is similar to a lighter single malt it can be used for blending and gives another flavour component along with our single malts to give a broader scope for the flavour of blends we can create. Most of the output goes to blends rather than single grain bottling although the single grain volumes are now getting to a decent volume."

In this blog I'm trying 4 drams from these continuous stills - a newly released peated single grain alongside it's unpeated sibling, a Tweeddale released peated version released a couple of years ago and a Cask Strength version from the Southport Whisky Club Festival.

Dram	Single Grain	Single Grain Peated	Single Grain Peated (Tweeddale)	Single Grain Peated (Southport Whisky Club Festival)
Characteristics	46% ABV Natural colour, NCF 100% malted barley	46% ABV Natural colour, NCF 100% 50PPM malted barley	50% ABV Natural colour, NCF 50% 50ppm malted barley and 50% single grain distilled from wheat	60.5% ABV Natural colour, NCF 100% 50PPM malted barley 1st and 2nd fill bourbon
Distillery notes	Single grain is an elegant and full bodied single grain with a smoothness making this exceptionally easy to drink. A single grain scotch whisky with a distinctive background character of soft fruits and creamy vanilla with a hint of smoke and peat. Perfect anytime over ice or with a hint of water. Nose: Fresh cut barley fields with a malty edge, biscuity with baked apples alongside gentle lemon peel. Palate: Crisp and delicate. Pineapple juice and a lemon zestiness with a lovely vanilla sweetness at the end. Finish: Gentle with soft fruits alongside a juicy sweetness.	This outstanding single grain scotch whisky is made exclusively from heavily peated malted barley in the malt room at the Loch Lomond Distillery. Distilled in our continuous still ensures this single grain is smooth, sweet with added complexity not usually found in a single grain. It is then matured in a combination of first and refill bourbon casks from our own on-site cooperage. Nose: Clove, vanilla, blackcurrant. Palate: Sweet tangy peat, green apple, lime citrus, aniseed Finish:Crisp dry finish with distant peat smoke	The Tweeddale Grain of Truth challenges current Scotch Whisky convention. Our aspiration is to prove the truth is out : single grain can be every bit as good as a single malt. The Tweeddale Grain of Truth – Peated Edition, a Highland Single Grain Scotch Whisky, 50% abv, natural colour, non-chill filtered. Nose : Apple and grassy notes, mixed in with a light smoky, earthy note. Hints of lemon and lime with a sweet smoke. With a second nose, sweet and creamy icing sugar and a spicy oaky note. Palate : Sweet and smoke. barbeque, fruitiness, chocolate and caramel. More berries and chocolate. A lovely smoke and chocolate on the mid palate. Finish : A drying, slightly charred finish	This was a one off special as part of the tasting pack for the Southport Whisky Club Summer Festival.
My thoughts:
Appearance
	Pale gold, swirls cling as a hairline crack, bead up slowly and fall as slow thick legs.	Almost clear - a tiny hint of gold. Swirls form beads and fall as slow thick legs.	Very pale gold - white wine even. Swirls cling as a hairline crack, beads form slowly and fall as slow thick legs.	Pale gold, swirls again form a hairline crack, slowly bead up and fall as slow thin legs.
Nose	Tropical fruit notes - pineapple, mango; chewy sweets, digestive biscuit a little vanilla. A little time and air offers a citrus note and some stewed pears.	Peat smoke straight out of the glass, a hint of salt and again the tropical fruit notes of its unpeated sibling. Again time and air offers citrus.	Huge orchard notes - fruit as well as trees and grass. Apples, pears, apricots, oak, fresh cut grass. There is also a faint smoky bacon crisp note - it's not overly strong but it's there. Again time and air offers citrus.	Marzipan, icing sugar, tropical fruit and some cut grass notes. Smoke is barely noticable. The citrus note is there again after time and air.
Palate	Smooth creamy sweet arrival, lots of berries - strawberries, blackberries, blackcurrants. After a few sips the tropical notes of pineapple come through. This isn't like a normal single grain, it's not vanilla led - there is some vanilla but it's more fruit forward. There's a big bite of peppery spice as the liquid disappears and a citrus fizz left on the tongue. Nice!	Another smooth cream sweet arrival, peat smoke leads with the tropical fruit - dried pineapple(?) and citrus (lemon zest) coming behind. A few more sips and the smoke notes offer BBQ meats and smoky bacon crisps. Takes me back to the long distant days of summer! A little spice but not as much as the unpeated and again a citrus fizz left on the tongue.	Thick sweet syrupy arrival with huge smoke notes - much more than the nose suggested. The fruit has turned all tropical now - pineapple, mango, banana - barbequed maybe? The liquid is quite drying and leaves that spicy citrus fizz on the tongue. A little sour grapefruit note as the liquid disappears.	Another thick sweet syrupy arrival, tropical fruit and citrus vie for attention before a tsunami of peat smoke comes and covers everything. A few more sips details some peppery spice notes in the smoke which intensify as the liquid disappears - this is cask strength, it's very complex and deserves some time. It is however completely different from its lower ABV sibling.
Finish	Long smooth tropical fruit notes and a little bit of peppery citrus. Nice.	Sweet citrus notes, a little peppery spice and that ever present dry heathery smoke. Yummy!	Long lingering sweetness, drying and always with that smoky note. Nice.	Long lingering dry smoke, tropical fruit notes and a peppery spice. YUMMY!
Overall	For a £26 bottle the Single Grain is an amazing whisky, I tried it early in my whisky journey and didn't think much of it - I think my palate has moved on a lot since then and I rate this up with Bains as a very cheaply priced everyday drinker. Would be great as a summer BBQ dram.... But then you move on to it's peated sibling, just released this month, and you are in the BBQ! I can't believe this is only a couple of £ more than the Single Grain - it's not medicinal peat, more heathery and dry - but it is very very nice.  The closest thing to try the peated version to is the Tweeddale, similar specification but the Tweeddale is 50% unpeated single grain wheat so has a lower PPM, slightly higher ABV and is maybe a tad older? But these are two very different drams. The LL SG Peated is dominated on the nose and palate by the smoke, the Tweeddale doesn't really show you the smoke until the palate and then goes immediately dry. The LL shared it's unpeated siblings peppery spice notes which the Tweeddale doesn't have. Then I moved on to the Cask Strength version of the Peated, this was only available in the tasting sets of the Southport Whisky Club Summer 2020 Festival - It's from a vatting of the casks which went into the Peated Single Grain before it was diluted to 46%. At 60.5% you'd think this would be a monster but it's not - it's really easy to drink and to be honest is very different from it's diluted sibling - as you'd expect it's much more complex and a dram which is worth spending time with. But in order to do that we need to persuade LL to release it! Tropical notes, citrus fizz and smooth sweetness is easily identifiable across all four drams, the Tweeddale version lacks the spice and is much drier than the other three - a factor of the wheat?  I'd happily buy a bottle of any of these, and I have - except for the last one! They are all very good in their own right but the CS version just pips the other three.

Loch Lomond have recently released a Single Cask Peated Single Grain as part off the 2021 Southport Whisky Festival. More info here!