Loch Lomond Distillery Edition Three

@LochLomondMalts have released the third in their, now quarterly, Distillery Edition series featuring innovative distilling techniques. 

This release is a single malt which has involved an extra long fermentation period.

Not having a Visitor's Centre means you can only buy this bottle from their website.

Loch Lomond say:

"Our Distillery Editions celebrate our distillery’s innovation and whisky-making ability. Our third edition is a 10 year old single malt whisky distilled in our remarkable Straight Neck stills, our Master Blender Michael Henry has chosen an extra-long fermentation time of three weeks (500 hours) to further accentuate the delicate fruit flavours in our unique distillate. Matured for 10 years in refill American Oak casks you can expect aromas of peach, honey, and grapefruit which are met with vanilla syrup sweetness, lemon citrus, and tropical fruit on the palate and finish." 

I asked Michael about the extended fermentation:

"We used our normal closed stainless steel washbacks. Although we clean after every use the pipework is physically clean but not sterile so there is bacteria present. The exact bacteria will be specific to our distillery. 

We tried it as a one off in 2012 and liked how the spirit came out. My memory of nosing the new make was that it was thick. 

I have been tasting the first batch over the last 5 years to see how it is coming on so have had my eye on a couple of casks. I also tasted another 20 just for this and picked the best three. It turned out how we wanted: lots of fruit and sour apple notes."

Bottler thoughts:

10yo Small batch distilled 25th Jun '12, matured in casks #705, #818 and #856, bottled May '23, 500 bottles

The distillery edition series allows our dedicated whisky-making team, led by our Master Blender Michael Henry, to experiment with processes and ingredients in order to unlock new and captivating flavours. Just like our previous two sold-out editions, this upcoming release showcases our distillery's innovation and whisky making ability.

For edition 3, our Master Blender Michael Henry has chosen an extra-long fermentation time of 3 weeks, which further accentuates the delicate fruit flavours evident in the finished product.

The longer fermentation time allows the distilling yeast to produce all the flavours they can before a secondary bacterial fermentation occurs. The bacteria are present in the distillery itself and ferment much more slowly which is why the extra time is vital in allowing them to produce more esters resulting in a wash that has a higher concentration of fruit flavours. It is then distilled in our remarkable straight neck stills, on 25th Jun '12, and taken at low collection strength.

Matured in our finest refill American Oak casks for 10 years, resulting in a flavour profile of vanilla syrup, zesty lemon and tropical fruit. Bottled at cask strength of 57.2%, non-chill filtered with natural colour, to keep things as nature intended.

Nose: Peach, pear, white grape, elderflower, honey, grapefruit

Taste: Sweet and sour – vanilla syrup sweetness with lemon juice citrus, passion fruit, mango, bay leaf

Finish: Medium in length with tangy overripe pineapple.

My thoughts:

Appearance: Light gold in the glass, swirls leave thin lines which bead up slowly, form an inverted crown, hang for a while and eventually fall as slow thin oily legs.

Nose: Huge orchard fruit notes to start: apples, pears, peaches and apricots. Sweet honey and icing sugar notes follow - there's a hint of dryness here. A little citrus, slightly sour, and a little malt.

Palate: Thick sweet arrival: golden syrup and dry icing sugar; all the fruit notes from the nose are back along with a bite of ginger spice. Apples, pears and peaches mingle with pineapple and mango. Vanilla and apricot notes add to the dryness. The citrus is back - sharp lemon peel and a little sour grapefruit. Then, like Loch Lomond's Chardonnay Wine Yeast fermentation releases, there's a lovely effervescent fizz left on the tongue as the liquid disappears. 

 

Finish: Lingering sweet fruit, sour citrus and a lovely maltiness.

Summary:  Yummy! A really well integrated drams - fruit notes from nose to finish and lovely layers of complexity which are revealed over time.

This is a vatting of casks 705, 818 and 856, the latter two of which we were able to preview at the Kendal Whisky Festival last December. The additional fermentation time has boosted the fruit notes in the wash, added the fizz and then the distillation in straight necked stills, with the cooling ring switched off, taking a wide cut at low collection strength has enhanced the orchard fruit notes, add a bit of spice and added some body to the new make. 

Maturation in refill American oak for 10 years means that there's very little in the way of cask influence - it's the spirit character that comes through. 

My only gripe is the price - £70 for a 10yo single malt is a little steep, yes it's a distillery exclusive at cask strength, but this is a vatting rather than a single cask and as you can see from the table below the previous Editions were cheaper. 

Previous Editions (my reviews here & here) didn't last long - get one while you can!

Geeky Bit:

Most distilleries ferment for between 50 and 120 hours (I've written about fermentation here), this batch was over 500 hours. Ardbeg released a similarly long hour fermentation bottling last year, supposedly a mistake due to a broken boiler. Loch Lomond's release was intentional - the spirit matured in refill American oak so that the flavours developed during fermentation could shine through rather than being swamped by first fill bourbon, sherry or wine casks.

Loch Lomond Distillery Editions:

Edn	Released	Year	Age	Feature	Type	ABV	Price
3	Jul '23	2012	10	Extra long fermentation	3 Cask Vatting	57.2%	£70
2	Apr '23	2017	5	Single Blend (Peated)	Vatting	57.7%	£40
1	Nov '22	2010	9	Chardonnay Wine Yeast fermentation	Single Cask	57.1%	£65