Side by side: A Little Brown Dog Flight

@lbdspirits are an Indie bottler and micro distillery based in rural Aberdeenshire, founded in 2018.

To celebrate their 5th birthday this week they shared some drams with us!

Chris Read and Andrew Smith formed the company based on Chris’s farm combining a passion for their surrounding area with in depth knowledge (read intense geekery) of distilling and cask maturation.

The name is taken from Andrew’s beloved dog, who’s nickname was the little brown dog. She followed him everywhere on all his distillery visits and was his constant companion. She passed away in 2022 aged 15 but lives on in spirit. Two more little brown dogs, Winnie and Peedie joined the team in 2020 and 2023.

A zoom tasting of the regular crew took place trying 3 whiskies and a Calvados.

Dram	Mannochmore 2009	Nc'nean 2017 6yo	Arran 2009 14yo
Characteristics	3mth PX Cask finish 14yo 59.1% ABV, NCF, Natural Colour 241 bottles	STR Cask 6yo 57.9% ABV, NCF, Natural Colour 316 bottles	Full maturation in RF St Emilion Barrique 14yo 56.3% ABV, NCF, Natural Colour 260 bottles
Distillery notes	One of the benefits of having our own warehouse on site now is the attention we can pay to casks during finishing. In fact “finish” might be an awfully strong word in this instance, we might pinch Mark Watt’s term “rested” as it was only in the px cask (one of the wee mongrel 2 casks) for 3 months. Think of it more as PX salt and pepper, just the finishing touch, a PX garnish. We didn’t imagine this would be such a short finish but it really was all we needed to balance the original spirit with a little more depth and richness. This is intentionally NOT a sherry bomb. Nose – Cherry lips, honeydew melon, almond thins Palate – Kiwi fruit, green grapes, dark marmalade Finish – Orange zest, nutmeg and Szechuan pepper	The team at Nc’nean will only be working with a restricted number of indie bottlers each year so this is a rare chance to try a single cask, at cask strength, natural colour and without chill filtration. This is only the second ever independent bottler to release a Nc’nean What is an STR cask? Shaved, toasted and recharred. It seemed an appropriate pick in hindsight, as STRs were recommended by the late Dr Jim Swan, grandfather to many of the newer generation distilleries. Sadly he never got to experience the whisky from Nc’nean but we’ll raise a wee dram to him from this cask. Nose – Cranberry sauce, marshmallow, geranium Palate – Birch syrup, nectarine, unsalted butter Finish – Wild raspberries and thick jersey cream	This cask is rather unique, in a good way! This is a full maturation refill cask so it is not death by wine. What makes this one even more interesting is that it is from the first unpeated distillation, after a peated run, so it used the peated low wines and feints from the previous distillation but from an unpeated mash. It’s therefore got this incredibly gentle peaty background that has softened with age. The label is marbled but looks not unlike how you would describe Hutton’s unconformity, a what now? It’s a geological discovery made on Arran, and yes, we are geeks. Nose – Plum jam, raspberry jelly, embers of a doused fire Palate – Barbequed pineapple,  chocolate digestives, lucky tatties Finish – Signature Arran white pepper and light surprise peat.
My thoughts:
Appearance
	Pale gold in the glass, swirls cling as thin line in the glass, bead up slowly and fall as slow thin legs.	Mid gold in the glass, swirls cling as a hairline crack in the glass, bead up slowly and fall as a curtain of slow thin legs.	Pale gold in the glass, swirls cling as thin line in the glass, bead up slowly and fall as slow thick legs.
Nose	Huge orchard fruit notes, icing sugar, almonds, cola.	Hedgerow berries, vanilla, rose petals and a little dunnage funk.	Gentle smoke, red berries, tropical fruit: pineapple, green apple,
Palate	Sweet syrupy arrival, orchard fruit from the nose are back along with a little citrus and some smoke. The PX is hinted at with some dried fruit and dates.	Thick syrupy arrival, spicy and immediately drying. Thick and chewy with lots of hedgerow berries, creamy butter and a bite of ginger spice.	Thick sweet arrival, herbal notes, gentle peat smoke and red berries. Peppery spice, tart green apples, vanilla and a little mint.
Overall	Three really interesting drams - a very much under the radar sherry finished Mannochmore, only the second indie Nc'nean release and a very unusual Arran from the first unpeated run after the summer closedown using the low wines from the previous peated run and matured in a St Emilion wine Barrique!