Side by side: Lochlea Single Estate Core Range

Commissioned in August 2018 Lochlea Distillery was built in an old piggery in the middle of Lochlea Farm in Kilmarnock.

Featuring barley grown on the farm, the distillery has grown from strength to strength.

In September '25 the core range 'Our Barley' was joined by 'Orchard & Oak', 'Dark Briar' and 'Smoke Without Fire':

"We’re proud to unveil the Lochlea Single Estate Range – a bold new expression of our commitment to provenance, craftsmanship, and innovation.

Grown, distilled and matured entirely on our Ayrshire farm, this range showcases the true character of our land and the people who shape it. Each bottle is a testament to our single estate philosophy: from barley to barrel, every step is rooted in Lochlea.

We’re excited to introduce three new expressions that join Our Barley to complete the Lochlea Single Estate Range.  A celebration of our farm’s unique character and the craftsmanship behind every drop.

Each expression in our new Single Estate Range is crafted using the same estate-grown barley, creating a collection deeply rooted in the land that surrounds our distillery."

Let's see what they are like!

Dram	Our Barley	Orchard & Oak	Dark Briar	Smoke Without Fire
Characteristics	FF Bourbon, Oloroso Sherry Butts & STR 46% ABV	FF Bourbon, Virgin American Oak & Calvados 46% ABV	PX, Oloroso sherry butt & Port 46% ABV	Ex-peated refill Bourbon barrel & red wine 46% ABV
Distillery notes	Nose: Pear syrup, fruit bon bons, warm cut grass, marmalade. Palate: Golden syrup, pepper, rye bread, macadamia nuts, cream soda. Finish: Long finish with a lasting orange beeswax note.	Nose: Sweet apple notes, earthy, fresh cut grass and lightly floral notes Palate: Fresh cut green apples, buttery caramel, fresh grassy flavours & oaky spice. Apple cake, rich and buttery, with cream and fruit freshness Finish: Sweet oak, caramel, and light cereal to finish	Nose: Rich and sweet, red fruit, pic’n’mix sweets, with a touch of vanilla caramel, and fresh baking spices Palate: Big, bold and juicy, with lots of cherries and sweet, sticky plums, warming tannins & ginger cake Finish: Long and rich, with velvety tannins, and baking spice	Nose: Sweet red berries, flowers in bud, cherry blossom, lemon peel, and soft smoke Palate: Salty sea smoke, fresh cut oak, bonfire char, light citrus, light delicate fruit, a hint of sherbet Finish: Light char, soft blossom, gentle to finish, and fresh phenols
My thoughts:
Appearance
	Light gold in the Glencairn, swirls cling as a thin line, bead up and fall as slow thin oily legs.	Pale gold in the Glencairn, swirls cling as a thin line,  hang for a while, bead up and fall as slow thin oily legs.	Reddy gold in the Glencairn, swirls cling as a thin line, take an age to bead up and fall as slow thin oily legs.	Pale gold in the Glencairn, swirls cling as a thin line, take an age to bead up and fall as slow thin oily legs.
Nose	Tinned fruit cocktail, honey, lemon zest and a little shortbread. A little time and air offers barley sugars and some icing sugar.	Caramel apple granny & vanilla custard. There's some dry pear, cut grass and a lovely grapefruit note. a little time and air offers porridge and cider.	Hedgerow berries,  cherries, dried fruit & pear skin. There's some honey, earthy dunnage funk and a little gingerbread. A little time and air offers cinnamon, & coriander.	Gentle peat smoke, honey, orchard fruit and some berries. There's a lovely lemon Bon Bons note. A little time and air offers  grilled pineapple and seaside pebbles.
Palate	Fruit forward arrival: pears, apples and berries. It's immediately spicy and a little spirity. Honey and icing sugar follow with a lovely lemon zest zing. A few more sips offer baking spices, dry oak and some nutty toffee.	A much thicker arrival, mouthcoating. Our Barley on steroids, orchard fruit to the fore, especially the apples and a lovely bite of ginger spice. A few more sips reveal dry almond croissants and that lovely sour citrus note from the nose.	Berries and cherries to the fore, a little creamy then immediately drying and spicy. There's the gingerbread from the nose, plum skins and a little liquorice. A few more sips offer dry apricot skins.	Thick, mouthcoating, juicy  arrival: tropical fruit, berries, salted lemons and a little liquorice with a thick blanket of smoke. There's a little citrus, some spice and a lovely dry ashiness. A few more sips offer salinity and juicy pears.
Finish	Orchard fruit, berries and dry oak spice.	Lingering apple skin, marzipan and ginger spice.	Dry. Lingering berries, cherries and ginger spice.	Short and ashy with tropical fruit, berries and gentle spice.
Overall	I'm yet to try a 'plain' ex-bourbon Lochlea so am a little unsure of their distillery character - it's definitely robust, oily and full of orchard fruit, Our Barley adds sweetness and citrus with some lovely spice notes but it is a little spirity - the 46% maybe revealing it's youth. Orchard & Oak is a much more drinkable dram, mouthcoating, sweet and spicy and has lost the spirity note of it's sibling. Calvados and Virgin oak in harmony! Dark Briar is another step up with berries and cherries adding to the fruit but it turns dry very quickly making you try more - yummy! Smoke Without Fire fills in the 'peated' option of the core range. As a purist I'd love to see them using peated barley rather than ex-Laphroaig peated casks but this works well, the fortified Granache wine casks add a lovely berry note. There's a lovely salinity on the nose and palate here too. I really like the 3 new additions to the core range, the Dark Briar stands out, the Our Barley maybe needs a few older cask in the mix or better still a slightly higher ABV. Lochlea have just released their 7yo, I tried it at Southport Winter Festival, it's at a slightly higher 50% ABV and is a lovely whisky.

Many thanks to Alex and the team at Lochlea for the samples but the opinions above are my own unbiased views (even though Alex uses my Whisky Spreadsheet!.