Side by side : Three Limousin Inchmurrin

Limousin is the name of a forest in France where oak trees are harvested for the making of wine barrels, they've been appearing as finishing casks for whisky more and more.

Let's try some!

In France, there are six official forests where oak is cut to make barrels: Allier, Bourgogne, Nevers, Tronçais, Vosges and Limousin.

French forests and Wine regions

Two types of oak are grown in the Limousin forest, north-western part of the Massif Central in France, Quercus robur and Quercus patraea. The trees are cut and allowed to dry for two-years before they are made into barrels.

The French spirit Cognac is aged in oak casks made from wood from the Tronçais and Limousin forests as these are considered loose-grained, which allows certain characteristics of the oak to seep into the wine influencing the aroma and texture of wine, the barrels are usually toasted.

Loch Lomond distillery buy French oak casks from a Bordeaux Cooperage, in 2017 they trialled virgin Moselle (from the Champagne region of North East France), Vosges and Limousin before deciding to use Limousin to finish their Inchmurrin style spirit.

The fruity Inchmurrin style spirit is distilled exclusively from unpeated barley in Loch Lomond's Straight Necked Pot Stills (they aren't Lomond Stills!) with the cooling ring turned on. The spirit is collected at a High Collection Strength of between 80% and 90% ABV

The Inchmurrin style spirit is matured in mainly refill ex-bourbon casks and then finished in virgin Limousin oak casks for a period of time. Here I'm trying three different versions.

Dram	Loch Lomond 14yo	2004 15yo Single Cask #17/641-2	2004 15yo [SMWS] 112.53 Sophisticated seductive Sazerac cocktail
Characteristics	46% ABV Refill American oak then re-casked into lightly toasted Limousin Oak for 6-9 months.	54.6% ABV Distilled Oct '04, matured in refill American Oak until Nov '17 then re-casked into lightly toasted Limousin Oak for 20 months.	56.6% ABV Distilled Oct '04, matured in refill American Oak until Jun '17 then re-casked into lightly toasted Limousin Oak for 24 months.
Distillery notes	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. Nose: Coconut, green apple and pear, cinnamon and clove spice, lemon. Taste: Sweet toffee and vanilla fudge, grapefruit, citrus, pineapple, toasted oak. Finish: Long with warming oak spice of clove and aniseed.	Crafted at Loch Lomond distillery as part of the 'grassy-style' Inchmurrin series, bottled at cask strength of 54.6% abv, producing just 393 bottles. The nose is fruity and grassy with sweet notes of golden syrup. The palate brings an initial burst of zesty citrus lemon, followed by fresh pineapple, creamy vanilla and melted brown sugar, before a pleasantly tangy note in the finish.	The nose neat was full of goodness as we made cinder toffee and toffee apples as well as gooey chocolate brownies straight out of the oven. On the palate decadent, deep and strong like Black Forest chocolate mousse shots – the kirsch fired in by a blunderbuss gun! With a little water a classic New Orleans Sazerac cocktail appeared – rye whisky, absinthe, bitter and a cube of sugar. The taste, sweet, rich and woody with cloves, anise, candied spices, bitter orange, dark chocolate and black tea as well as a teasing, tingling peppery, slightly citrus liquorice in the finish.
My thoughts:
Appearance
	Mid gold in the glass, swirls cling as a thick line, bead up and fall as slow thick legs.	Orangey gold in the glass, swirls cling as a hairline crack, eventually forming beads as an inverted crown which fall as slow thin legs.	Orangey gold in the glass, swirls cling as a hairline crack, eventually forming beads as an inverted crown which fall as slow thin legs.
Nose	Toasted coconut mushrooms (you remember them from when you were a kid surely?) stewed orchard fruit and a hint of peppery spice. A little air offers some citrus peel notes along with that hint of toast or smoke.	Grassy, fruity and sweet, loads of orchard fruit notes with a hint of spice. We're talking poached pear and cinnamon with a little vanilla custard in a bowl in the middle of a summer field! A little air offers the beginning of some citrus.	Loads of summer fruit - apples, pears, strawberries, peaches, banana(!) with a decent pinch of spicy cinnamon. A little time and air offer toffee and brown sugar notes with a hint of citrus.
Palate	Very smooth sweet creamy arrival, loads of typical Inchmurrin notes: toffee apples, peaches, sweetened stewed pears, digestive biscuits and oaky vanilla. As the liquid disappears the spices really come into their own - cinnamon and nutmeg biting at the tongue leaving a citrus fizz. Nice! A little time and air offer liquorice and bitter dark chocolate notes. Yummy!	Slightly oily arrival, more of the grass and orchard fruit but with a big dollop of honey sweetness. The fruit turns tropical with pineapple and mango. There's some sweet vanilla and barley sugar in here too and a huge lemon and lime citrus fizz on the tongue as the liquid disappears. It's like the 14yo but as you'd expect at Cask Strength it packs a bit more of a punch.	Again slightly oily arrival, super sweet golden syrup and a bite of spice. The tropical fruit from the LL SC is there with a little hint of that banana note from the nose. Vanilla and barley sugars are joined by dark chocolate and brown sugar. Again a huge citrus fizz as the liquid disappears and a huge bite of gingery spice.
Finish	Lingering spiced apples, a hint of smoke and some tropical fruit.	Long lingering citrus with some tropical fruit and honey notes.	Long lingering citrus with some tropical fruit and golden syrup notes.
Overall	All really nice drams, the 14yo is my current go-to-bottle, the obvious differences are the ABV and second maturation duration. Virgin oak is going to give a spicy bite to a whisky but in my experience the virgin Limousin oak also adds a sweetness. On the ABV side the 14yo is a lovely daily drinker, complex enough to made you think about it and take your mind away from the troubles of the day. The LL SC pushed the ABV up making it an occasional sipper, the SMWS likewise. On the maturation duration things get interesting - 6-9mths on the 14yo adds a beautiful cinnamon spice bite to the Inchmurrin fruitiness, The LL SC with 20mths takes a lot out of the wood, the spice is turned up a few notches but interestingly so to is the sweetness. The SMWS went for 24mths, more of a spicy bite and even more sweetness. For me it's down to picking the right dram for the occasion, all are really nice, the 14yo is a core range bottling so readily available, the other two were single casks so maybe more difficult to get hold of now. If you haven't tried Limousin oak any one of these is worth a try.

Geeky stuff:

The SMWS bottled the other Lock Lomond experiments:

• Vosges oak : The spring collection (112.40) and Splinter vs Shredder (112.57)
  
  
• Moselle oak : A wafer a while (112.46) and A preternatural good striker (112.74)

If anyone has either of these I'd be interested in a sample swap!