A lot has been said about our wee 14 year old Inchmoan cask 68, but way back this was the first ever Inchmoan I’ve tasted. I was quite intrigued and surprised by how good it was, not expecting much back then. But Loch Lomond are on the rise, and stuff that gets released recently is really worth your while.
Loch Lomond’s a weird distillery as it has Lomond stills, which differ in shape from classic pot stills (they also have classic ones). Those straight necked stills have shifting plates inside their necks, and you can move shift them around to get more or less reflux which in turn creates a different style of spirit. {Lomond stills are called that because of other reasons and not becasuse they are from Loch Lomond, but this is a long story… }
As you may know Loch lomond released 3 lines of whiskies : Loch Lomond – mixture of straight- and swan-neck distilled whisky, using both lightly peated and unpeated barley. The result is a rounded and fruity dram with a hint of smoke.
Inchmurrin – It’s an unpeated straight-neck-distilled spirit collected at 85% and mostly matured in refill casks. This allows the fruity spirit character to take lead.
and… Inchmoan – made from heavily peated barley and uses straight-neck spirit collected at both 85% and 65%, as well as swan-neck distilled spirit. This gives Loch Lomond as much flexibility as possible to create the whisky, and the result is a full-bodied and peaty dram.
Inchmoan 12 Year Old , 46% , £40
Nose: Quite leafy, and ashy at the same time with smoke, moss, and some medicinal qualities as well. Vegetal at times, but also with a hint of sweet smoke. Quite enticing really.
Palate: Ash , peat and spice, some pepper , earth, sweet BBQ marinade, some cinnamon, there’s a nice sweet smoke as well, some grilled nuts, and chili flakes. loving the sweet smoke, no vegetal touches now on the palate, but very nice ash with a hint of tropical fruit, but very faint.
Finish: ash, sweet smoke, dark chocolate / espresso, quite long.
Conclusion: This is a lovely dram my friends! I love it. It’s got the right smoke / ash / bitter dark chocolate feel, the nose is layered and nicely done, and it’s just a very lovable smoky whisky. Easy drinking alright, in spite of the smoke or peat, it’s not medicinal on the palate, a bit on the nose… Good stuff. at a decent price.
Score: 86/100
available for £40 over at Master of Malt