Loch Lomond 12 year old is a perfect representation of our signature style, delivering delicious notes of peach and pear, layered with vanilla sweetness and a gentle hint of smoke on the finish
Loch Lomond 12 year old is crafted in the shadow of Ben Lomond, using our unique Straight Neck stills and more traditional Swan Neck Stills, before being aged in three varieties of American Oak casks - bourbon, refill and re-charred.
Bottled at 46% and non-chill filtered to keep things are nature intended. This perfectly balanced expression is brought together by Michael Henry, our Master Blender, whose signature on each bottle is our personal assurance of quality.
Nose
Crisp green apple, ripe pear and refreshing citrus lemon with background notes of golden cereal.
Palate
Orchard fruits and lemon meringue. The deep fruity character of pear leads into citrus lemon, vanilla meringue and light biscuit sweetness.
Finish
Medium in length with gentle wood smoke and a lingering tang.
Review 88 - 30th December 2020
Purchased this sample as part of a tasting set from Drinks by the Dram at Master of Malt, today we review Loch Lomond 12 Year Old Single Malt Whisky.
Bottled at 46% ABV, is natural colour and non chill filtered. It retails for an average of £36.45 and is aged for 12 years in a combination of ex-bourbon, refill and recharged casks. It achieves a value score of 96.96 (The value score is a calculation based on the average price of a standard UK 700ml bottle, factoring in whisky attributes such as ABV, age, colour status and chill filtration. Bonus points can be achieved for being cask strength and or single cask bottles. The score is out of 100 as is an indication as to whether a bottle is good value.)
On the nose it is sweet, with vanilla dominating followed by caramel or maybe toffee, then a bouquet of fruit notes, maybe some tropical fleshy fruits. At the back end of the nose there is some lingering malt biscuit. There is no sign of any peat or smoke on the nose, maybe this dram needs to sit and open.
On the palate; It is spectactularly sweet and fruity. It has a lovely syrupy honey texture and sweetness with the fruit showing as pear, maybe some strawberry but peach dominates. The malt biscuit again shows ensuring the fruit doesnt have all the attention. There is very little spice or bitterness on the finish. Peat once again isn't apparent, but showing at the very end of the finish after deep breath is a whiff of smoke.
This whisky is a desert whisky and for our mind could be a gateway into whisky, it shares similarities to Tomintoul, Glenfiddich and maybe Glencadam, certainly for being a very easy drinker. The alcohol although it is 46% is very light and doesn't event suggest it could be 40%, this makes this a very dangerous dram as it is very quaffable. Normally we consider a whisky at 46% to be an intermediate level as usually the alcohol presents some challenge to the palate, often requiring doses of water to be added to bring out the best of the dram, however in this case, no water is needed.
For an overall score we give this 88 out of 100 and we would certainly be looking to buy a bottle. It would be nice for the peat to reveal itself, we will have to get a bottle to explore this dram more to find it, not a bad challenge.