Inchmoan 12 Year (SMWS 135.35 "Stellar Stuff!")

 

The fourth of six drams served at the April outturn tasting for the Scotch Malt Whisky Society ("SMWS") at the Jack Rose Saloon in Adams Morgan, Washington DC. At these events, you sit at a small table and one by one make guesses about the six scotches in front of you: age, type of cask, which distillery (multiple choice, out of five provided), along with a field to write notes. 

One of the myriad Loch Lomond imprints, I liked the one other Inchmoan I had - a 9 year that was exceptionally grassy and delicious called "Bowling Green Libations." This is features a typically unusual finish - stock in trade over at Loch Lomond. Here are the official notes:

The complex nose combined sultanas, ripe figs and marmalade with Demerara, marzipan and rum-flavoured chocolate, polished wood, putty and split logs. The toothsome palate contained chocolate ice-lolly sticks and barley sugars, spiced cherries, aniseed gobstoppers and five spice roast belly pork; coffee bean, cardamom and curry to finish. The reduced nose had ice-cream, maple syrup and waffles in an artist’s studio (or maybe an apothecary’s?) The palate now delivered poached pears with honey and clove, breakfast pancakes with black coffee and cigar box hints; stellar stuff! After nine years in ex-bourbon wood we put this into a heavily charred new oak hogshead.

I adore heavy char finishes - one of the best I ever had, if not THE best, was also from Loch Lomond, a bottle SMWS called "Dark and Flaming." So I was very curious about this one. Let's dig right in. Bottled at 54.4% ABV:

Nose: Hazelnuts, salt, chocolate, soft leather, brazil nuts, almonds - it's intensely nutty. I guess that's a product of the char. Very attractive on the nose as a result. The chocolate gets richer with a little water. 

Mouthfeel: Silky, oily. 

Palate: Weirdly, I get a lot of sherry influence here: leather, dates, figs, nuts, and a landslide of chocolate and brown sugar. Odd. There is no sherry present at all in the history of this bottle! Go figure. Either way, it's sweet, nutty, and nice. Didn't wow me or blow me away, but satisfied me. One of those. 

Finish: Dry as a bone - oak, almond, cocoa dust. Short. Strangely, I think it was fitting. 

Verdict: Another win (albeit a small one) for Loch Lomond. This is a nice expression although the heavy char resolves as a handful of nuts and chocolate instead of smoke and cognac like I usually get. I didn't pick this one up, but I did like it.