A little late to the Covid virtual tasting game but Loch Lomond released a tasting pack with the invitation to join Master Blender Michael Henry on Zoom - how could I miss it?
Described on the website as:
"From the comfort of your own home, Michael will take you through Loch Lomond Distillery’s unique distillation process which will include live footage from the distillery, plus an in-depth tasting of 6 fantastic drams."
All pictures from the LL team.
There were nearly 130 people on the Zoom call - how on earth could that
work you ask? Well - really well in fact. The key thing was that only
Michael, Scott and Gary were on the screen at the same time, the rest of
us viewers only - you didn't even need a camera to take part!
First up was the Peated Single Grain, Michael explained the process of
using malted barley in a continuous still and Scott showed us the actual
stills.
| Peated Single Grain (Floral & Sweet) |
|---|
| Distillery Info |
| Made exclusively from heavily peated (50ppm) malted barley in the malt room at the Loch Lomond Distillery. It is then matured, for 4-5 years, in a combination of first and refill bourbon casks which delivers a soft fruity character with creamy vanilla and wisps of smoke. |
| My brief thoughts |
| Nose: cloves, vanilla,, blackcurrant |
| Palate: sweet peat, vanilla, ginger spice, citrus peel |
Next Michael took us through the 8 different spirit types distilled at Loch Lomond and explained how each was combined to make the 3 core 12yos.
Whilst Scott showed us the washbacks at work!
Loch Lomond uses two types of still to create it's single malts, Michael explained what they did and Scott took us on a tour of the still rooms.
This led us on to tasting the Loch Lomond 12yo
| 12yo (Perfectly Balanced) |
|---|
| Distillery Info |
| Through our distilling craft, malt from our two styles of pot still sills are married together to create a fruit driven character, with a touch of peat and smoke, that is a signature styles of Loch Lomond distillery. A perfectly balanced single malt whisky, matured in three types of cask – bourbon, refill and re-charred. |
| My brief thoughts |
| Nose: Orchard fruit - apples, pears, some toffee and citrus peel |
| Palate: more orchard fruit, biscuity lemon meringue pie and fudge |
And then the 12yo Inchmurrin
| 12yo Inchmurrin (Fruity & Sweet) |
|---|
| Distillery Info |
| Loch Lomond Inchmurrin 12 year old is distilled in our unique straight neck stills to create a distinctive lighter whisky with subtle floral notes. Aged in three hand-selected types of cask – bourbon, refill and recharred – these whiskies are then married together in a balance known only to our Master Blender, Michael Henry. |
| My brief thoughts |
| Nose: pear drops, toffee |
| Palate: pear, peach, apricot, orange peel, creamy vanilla |
Michael then explained about the different phenol levels from the different types of distillation:
This led us on to tasting the 12yo Inchmoan
| 12yo Inchmoan (Smoke & Spice) |
|---|
| Distillery Info |
| Inchmoan 12 Year Old Single Malt is born from a combination of malt whiskies from our traditional swan neck pot still and our unique straight neck pot still to create an unconventional peat character with a lot of depth marrying smoke and spiciness. It is matured for 12 years in a mix of re-charred American oak and refill bourbon American oak casks giving sweet vanilla background notes that complements the soft peat style of Loch Lomond’s unique still set up. |
| My brief thoughts |
| Nose: gentle smoke, fruit and vanilla |
| Palate: sweet smoke, peppery spice, orchard fruit |
Although Loch Lomond concentrate on flavour development in their spirit and use the same casks for each of the 12yos (80% refill and 20% first fill) they occasionally finish some whiskies in special casks. Michael explained the thinking behind the use of French Limousin Oak casks for the 14yo.
Scott showed us the casks sourced from a Bordeaux Cooperage which are used to finish the Inchmurrin style spirit for an extra 6 to 9 months:
This led us on to tasting the 14yo, it's the same spirit combination as the 12yo Inchmurrin but using more refill American oak, no first fill and then 6 to 12 months finish in the Limousin Oak casks.
| 14yo |
|---|
| Distillery Info |
| This stunning 14 Year Old uses only unpeated spirit from our innovative and unique straight neck pot stills. This delivers the unmistakable fruit character found in Loch Lomond Single Malt. The spirit has been matured in refill American oak casks in French Oak from the Limousin region for up to twelve months. These lightly toasted casks are made especially for Loch Lomond. |
| My brief thoughts |
| Nose: cloves, cinnamon, pear drops, toffee apple |
| Palate: Fresh fruit, tropical fruit, vanilla custard, peppery spice |
The final dram of the night was the 21yo, a mixture of peated and unpeated spirit:
| 21yo |
|---|
| Distillery Info |
| Loch Lomond 21 year old uses only spirit from our unique straight neck pot stills. These innovative stills allow superior control at the distillation stage allowing us to take the spirit off at different collection strengths. This flexibility allows us to produce the different flavours found in this expression. This single malt uses three styles of spirit, two of which are peated, all of which have been matured in a mix of our finest American oak casks. Then, under the watchful eye of Master Blender Michael Henry, these spirits are married together for up to three months before bottling which adds a unique complexity to the whisky. |
| My brief thoughts |
| Nose: tropical fruit, vanilla |
| Palate: creamy vanilla, tropical fruit, ginger spice |
Michael also took some time to talk about the onsite cooperage - Loch Lomond is only 1 of 4 distilleries to have one. Most of their casks come from Heaven Hill or Jim Beam in the States, they are inspected and repaired as required ready for use. A cask could be used 2 to 3 times before being recharred and reused another 2 or 3 times. This cycle could be repeated a third time giving a cask a useful life of 45 to 90 years.
Michael explained the difference between Toasting (14yo) and Charring (12yo). Toasting is where the casks are fired to 240°C, this can be lightly toasted for 30 minutes to give a golden colour or heavily toasted for 60 - 90 minutes. Charring, as shown in the picture above, is where the casks are set alight for 3-4 minutes to create an internal layer of charcoal. The cooperage can lightly char 300°C, medium char 500°C or high char 700°C.
A poll was taken at the end of the night asking which expression surprised you most, I voted for the 14yo, the fruity Inchmurrin spirit and the Limousin Oak spice combining brilliantly!
A great night of tasting with Michael, Scott & Gary, you can watch the
whole thing on the Loch Lomond youtube channel here. (Soon!)
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