Oh, Loch Lomond... how you have resurrected your reputation in a short span of time! Many distilleries have had their star fall a bit in this modern era of integrity bottling - Dalmore, Bowmore, Highland Park, many more have ad their paltry 40% ABV bottling damned by the more-and-more educated Scotch drinkers, who now prefer independent bottlers and single cask offerings. Cork sniffers!
That said, Loch Lomond has done a really phenomenal job in making interesting, flavorful whisky that appeals to a wide variety of people. This is a bottle of their peated expression, Croftengea (one of many imprints they make), and SMWS gave it the fantastic nickname "Pirates Going Crazy on the Beach." This might be my favorite SMWS nickname ever, for any bottle, hahaha!
Here are the official notes:
Lots to discover on the nose, but everything was suffused with heather and lavender smoke – preserved lemons, tonka beans, gooseberries, marker pens and dousing a fire with a can of Sprite. The palate was full of fruity character – apple, lemon sherbet, peaches, pear drops, dried apricot – tangy and tasteful, but again all rumbled up in a madness of smoke. On the reduced nose we imagined a pack of pirates swigging rum and toasting marshmallows over a beach bonfire. The palate now – exotic, ash-smeared fruits, blow-torched mango, pineapple concentrate, chocolate limes, passion fruit, melon and flaming lemon thyme – ‘Hell Yeah!’
Oooooooh. I am curious about fiery Sprite, marker pens, and all that fruit! Bottled at a rousing 61.1% ABV, let's explore this peated offering from Loch Lomond - whose sales have blossomed fourfold in the last few years, praise be unto them:
Nose: A curious mixture of apple pie and raw earthy peat. Some industrial grease mixed oddly with flowers. Some sharper citrus - I get the Sprite reference. It's an offbeat nose, but still a pretty attractive one.
Mouthfeel: Pretty heavy.
Palate: Lots of apples and pears here, doused in smoke. Stone fruit too. The official notes are pretty close to when I'm tasting. It reminds me much of Bunnahabhain's Toitach a Dha in the mix of orchard fruit and smoke, but it's more intense than that one is, partially due to the ABV and partially to the intensity of the single cask presentation.
Finish: Smoke, a touch of fudge or dense chocolate, apple, oak, lemon peel.
Verdict: This is my favorite Loch Lomond bottling since "Dark and Flaming," an SMWS bottling of their Inchmurrin imprint that was matured in heavy char "alligator" casks. This has a lovely mix of juicy fruit and astringent earthy peat, that combine in a very fascinating way. I really like that Loch Lomond takes chances like this, even if they are selling it off to an independent bottler. Good stuff!
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