Loch Lomond Inchmoan 12 yo (46% ABV, UCF, recharred American oak and refill bourbon barrels, 2019 bottling)
After what turned in to a rather lengthy post about peat last week, I’m kicking off the series about non-Islay peated whiskies in the southern Highlands. I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again: after being a bit of an ugly duckling in the past, in recent years Loch Lomond has transformed itself from an industrial looking ‘whiskyplant’ producing a lot of filler whisky for the blend industry into a still-not-quite-beautiful-looking-but definitely-interesting-and exciting-producer-of-single-malt- and-grain-whiskies.
To my knowledge, they are the only distillery in the whole of Scotland (roughly 150 distilleries and counting) who are equipped with sets of traditional pot stills AND column stills AND straight neck stills, a perk that gives them a lot of room to experiment and push the boundaries of what we understand and expect about whisky, allowing them quite a bit of creativity within the otherwise fairly strict rules laid out by the SWA.
As you probably know, their Island series (named after the smaller isles in Loch Lomond), is where they combine whisky distilled in both their traditional pot stills and their straight neck stills (simplifying here: a pot still that has a column still mounted on top where normally the swan neck would be). Where Inchmurin is a sweeter, grassier expression, their peated whisky takes its name from the isle of Inchmoan, literally ‘the Isle of peat’.
What’s particularly interesting about this whisky, is the fact that by using the straight neck stills, the distiller has considerably more control about the outcome of the new make spirit. You may remember from last week’s post that there’s more to peated whisky than just the phenolic ppm, as there are a lot of different flavour compounds to be found there, and depending where and how you set your cutpoints, you’ll add or leave out different flavours coming from the peat used in kilning. As the straight neck stills operate in a similar way as a column still, where you can pinpoint your cutpoints with a lot of precision, Loch Lomond have chosen to not go for the obvious medicinal or smoke notes coming from traditional pot stills, but rather opt for what extras are to be found when adding in high strength and low strength spirit from the straight neck stills. Essentially, what they’ve done, is collect 3 types of new make from heavily peated barley: your classic pot still new make, driven by medicinal notes; and high and low collection strength from the straight neck stills, which bring out both the smoky and the spicy character. By then limiting the amount of the medicinal note driven new make, they clearly steer this malt into a different direction
So, despite starting out from a very respectable 50 ppm peated barley, this should, in theory, be a more warming, approachable spices driven whisky, rather than a peat bomb slapping you around with notes of bandaids and pcp. Let’s see what’s what, shall we?
On the nose, it starts with a bit of salinity. There’s fruitiness here (apples and pears just sort of being fully ripe), a gentle medicinal (antiseptic) note and then those warming spices roll in (clove ad baking spices). Some sweetness (icing sugar) and a soft fudge, going in to an earthy note giving it some extra depth and warmth along with those spice notes. The peat influence is subtle here and it takes a drop of water to bring out the medicinal notes.
The palate is ‘darker’ than the nose would suggest. It’s deep and lingering with an oily, viscous mouthfeel. The smoke remains subtle, but it’s definitely there, lovely balancing out the darker notes from treacle, baked apples and brown, caramelized sugars. Again after some water (go easy with it), the smoke and medicinal notes become more obvious, but everything remains perfectly ‘civil’ here.
The finish is medium to long, warming and drying as the peat and smoke (finally) take the lead, softly fading away.
This isn’t all about the peat, in fact, it’s quite possibly not about the peat at all. If getting a kick in the face from the likes of Laphroaig or Ardbeg is what you’re all about, this might not be a whisky for you. In my opinion, the peat is laid out as a foundation on which this whisky builds and while therefore being a vital part of it, the end result is that the peaty elements are integrated nicely into to the bigger scale of the whisky, rounding and subtly adding to the flavour profile rather than taking over control. Nothing stupidly complex or anything, but a rewarding, accessible, warming and enjoyable dram while also showing plenty of its own identity and character. 84/100
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