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.
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| Photo: whisky.com.gr |
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.
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| 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.
I've written about Loch Lomond's 100% malted barley single grains before here and a Single Cask version here but I'll recap a little of the science:
Although a you can see from the picture below the stills are clad in stainless steel the columns inside are made of copper.
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| Loch Lomond's 100% Barley Continuous Still |
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
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.
"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.
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.
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Loch Lomond have just released 2 new bottlings, a much older version and a Mizunara cask finished version.
Distillery information:
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Distiller's Choice is a limited edition single grain whisky distilled using only 100% malted barley in our continuous "Coffey" Still. Matured in a combination of first fill and refill American Oak casks and bottled at 48.8%. This single grain delivers deep floral and fruit, golden barley with a sweet vanilla fudge finish.
48.8% ABV, NCF, Natural Colour
This whisky finds deep floral and fruit notes of rose, violet, peach, pear, and blackcurrant with vanilla and coconut, honey, and chocolate. The palate brings tart fruits of blackberry and green apple with golden barley before a long finish of vanilla fudge sweetness and gently warming cinnamon spice.
My thoughts:
Nose: typical grain nose of vanilla, buttered popcorn and cinnamon spice but there's a little more here: toffee, berry fruit and coconut.
Palate: sweet arrival, honey and toffee which immediately turns spicy and slightly dry. Berries from the nose are back suggesting a wine finish but this is all bourbon! The buttered popcorn from the nose is here with peach, coconut and slightly sour citrus. There's a lovely cinnamon spice as the liquid disappears.
Finish: long dry and spicy with citrus and berries.
Overall: The original unpeated single grain is from 4-5 year old stock bottled at 46% ABV, this one is from 7-13 years old whisky bottled at 48.8% ABV, the price has increased to reflect this but it's still a tough market to crack. The berry notes are very surprising but perfectly balanced with the typical grain notes. The bottle says Limited Edition so get a bottle if you can!
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Distillery information:
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Cooper’s Collection is the first in a series of annual limited releases from our Master Blender, Michael Henry. Distilled using only 100% malted barley and then matured in American Oak casks with a finishing period in Japanese Mizunara casks to elevate the natural flavours in our single grain. The result is a smooth whisky with an elegant fruit and floral character, enhanced with rich fragrant spice from the Mizunara Oak casks.
50% ABV, NCF, Natural Colour, 3,000 bottles
Nose: Rose, honeysuckle, blackcurrant and toasted oak
Taste: Sweet spice character with apple, sandalwood and honey
Finish: Long dry finish, with oak and warming cinnamon spice
My thoughts:
Nose: again typical grain nose of vanilla, buttered popcorn and cinnamon spice but this one also suggests dark chocolate, oak and a more complex set of spice.
Palate: thick sweet arrival: honey, caramel and brown sugar; there's orchard fruit: apples, pears & peaches; some tropical fruit hints: pineapple & kiwi; and some nuts: coconut and pecans. Milk chocolate and sweet orange notes round things off. The spice slowly blankets everything: cinnamon from the nose with pepper, ginger and nutmeg. Yummy!
Finish: long sweet and spicy, with oak and orchard fruits.
Overall: This one is mainly 7yo with a smaller portion of 13yo than the Distillers Choice. It's been finished for 8 months in expensive Japanese 2nd fill Mizunara 250ltr Oak casks and bottled at a slightly higher 50% ABV. The berry notes from the first bottle have been replaced by orchard and tropical fruit, the spice has turned a lot more complex and there are a little more nut notes. This is a limited edition of 3,000 bottles but I'm guessing most are destined for the overseas market - the LL website sold out of stock in less than 30 minutes.
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