Mannochmore distillery is located in the Speyside town of Elgin, Morayshire and was founded as recently as 1971 by John Haig & Co. who built it alongside the Glenlossie distillery.

Sadly the distillery was mothballed between 1985-89 and again for a short while in 1995.

John Haig is owned by Diageo and Mannochmore is run under their UDV subsidiary.

More great distillery info here thanks to Malt Madness

Distillery photo with kind permission by Teimei Horiuchi

Mannochmore (IB)

General whisky characteristics: Fragrant dark fruits and nuts

G&M 'CC', Mannochmore, 1984-2001, 40% ABV

Typical cost of this bottle; €€€€€

Glass: Spiegelau

Colour: Rich, dark polished old oak

Nose: Prunes and raisins with rich nuts marinated in fragrant, high quality furniture polish

Palate: Smooth and rich, but at the same time far from overpowering. This is obviously a sherry cask but not a sherry bomb. Fragrant Christmas cake.

Finish: Medium to long and offering light marzipan with icing.

Overall Impression: A very fragrant and one of the lighter sherried drams, but really very enjoyable.

Loch Dhu

A one-off experiment with a black whisky from Mannochmore.

Loch Dhu, 10y, 40% ABV

Typical cost of this bottle; Originally €€€€€ now €€€€€ to €€€€€

Glass: Classic Malt

Colour: Black.

Nose: Initially a not too complex mixture of treacle toffee and tarmac. After some minutes this is joined by slightly sweet ashtray.

Palate: Thin and watery with very little flavour initially, but this kind of grows, or should I say expands into burnt coffee beans wrapped in used tobacco, pretending to taste like mocca with sour molasses on the side.

Finish: Annoyingly long after a very slow start.

Overall Impression: Been there, done that. Anyone wish to swap .. well .... errmmm anything for the remaining sample? Please!