Distillery photos with kind permission by Teimei Horiuchi

Loch Lomond distillery

Region: Western Highlands

Location: Lomond Estate, Alexandria, G83 0TL, Scotland

Status: Operational, but bottlings are rare as this whisky is mostly used in blends.

Craiglodge, Croftengea, Glen Douglas, Inchfad, Inchmoan, Inchmurrin & Old Rhosdhu are all brands from Loch Lomond distillery

More great distillery info here, thanks to Malt Madness

Loch Lomond General whisky characteristics: Dry sherry, butterscotch, almond

Loch Lomond

 Single Grain, Organic, wine cask 37700, distilled 2000, bottled 2005, 45% ABV

A Loch Lomond, Organic, single grain whisky

Typical cost of this bottle; €€€€€

Inchmoan General whisky characteristics: Asparagus, cheese, hints of faint peat

Independent Bottlers

Wieser, Inchmoan,  10y, distilled 1994, bottled 2005, cask 645, 63.5% ABV

'Vintage Cask' bottling, sampled at Limburg whisky fair.

Typical cost of this bottle; €€€€€

Nose: Raw Asparagus with a hint of yesterday's socks

Palate: Slightly pungent asparagus in the middle of an open-air French cheese market, with just a slight touch of peat.

Overall Impression: This whisky was described to me as a 'peaty Loch Lomond', but unfortunately this just didn't work.

Inchmurrin General whisky characteristics: Farmyard, barn, vegetal, grappa

Inchmurrin

 12y, 40% ABV

Typical cost of this bottle; €€€€€

Colour: Light gold

Nose: Initial whiff of horse stable gives way to slightly damp vegetation and maybe even potato.

Palate: Not strong-flavoured but much better than the nose suggests, with an over-riding dry grappa character, from a white-wine based grappa, but the vegetables are also faintly in residence on the palate.

Overall Impression: Very unusual in that the main body on the palate is so reminiscent of a grappa, but this is no grappa, it's definitely a single malt.

I revisited this same whisky a few days later, but using the Classic Malts glass; I found no difference in the nosing to my first tasting with the Spiegelau, other than the Spiegelau reacts slightly quicker and also fades a little earlier.

Croftengea General whisky characteristics: Rubber, outdoors & countryside

Croftengea 45% ABV

Sherry Butt cask No.1, bottle No. 696 of 885

Typical cost of this bottle; €€€€€

Colour: Rich gold, dark oak

Nose: Rubber (wellies) & outdoors.

Palate: A slight rubberiness translates onto the palate to join some grassy notes and a general countryside character with the slightest hint of coconut.

With 4 drops of water: Smoother with a little more rubber and countryside.

Finish: Medium to long with hints of coconut.

Overall Impression: The label says "Heavily peated" but you could have fooled me. I give in , where's the peat?

(Old) Rhosdhu General whisky characteristics: Slight rubber, rich, oak and dark fruits

(Murray McDavid) Rhosdhu 1996, 46% ABV

bourbon cask, one of 2000 bottles

Typical cost of this bottle; €€€€€

Colour: Teak, dark amber

Nose: Aged oak, slight rubber

Palate: Sweet, smooth rubber expanding on the palate over time. Slightly metallic dark fruits and berries.

Overall Impression: This bottle has been open for some weeks now and is about half empty. When I first tried it I found it to be extremely pleasant with dark fruits & berries and some cask influence. The most surprising influence is the dark colour coming from a bourbon cask, to the point where I would swear this was really a sherry cask! Unfortunately, over the few weeks sine opening this has gained a strange metallic influence which has slightly degraded both nose and palate.