Loch Lomond 12 Year

I don’t know how people get notes of smoky flavor. I love the strong scotch flavor I the beginning and the slow, Looonnnnggggg burn down to my stomach. For a $31 bottle of Scotch, this is definitely a keeper. I happen to like day old doughnuts and work with bandaids on a daily basis. This is an annoyance scotch that won’t break the bank.

Backstory: I participated in a Distiller W.O.W. (whiskies of the world) Zoom call having received 10 drams of different whiskies, actually 9 as they snuck one rum in with the mix. See my review on Diplomatico Reserva. I am so glad to have been introduced to a rum that put my love of bourbon to the test! This tasting event was a gift for my finance for his 50th so I got each of us a sample box and we joined in the Zoom call together one evening. It was a blast and I am glad we had two boxes as by the time we got to the last few drams my tasting notes got a little suspect as I had a pretty good buzz going! Plus, even with clearing my palette, and sniffing on coffee beans I am sure that my tasting was not as great as it was on those first few drams. We were smart to just share in the first box and save the second back for tasting over a period of a week just to be sure our notes were correct. So our third sample was this one. I know I am supposed to like this one. I know the brand is considered high bar, and I do not mean to sound unappreciative or uneducated but if either is true it is by far the later. In fact, I sit here with a small pour from what is left over right now and I can not honestly say my experience is much better, although not quite as harsh as my initial experience. Appearance: Straw colored, leggy and oily. Nose: Green apple, golden raisins, smoke, bandaid, burnt rubber. Flavor: Rubber band, rancid fruit, day old doughnuts, strong smoke. Finish: Possibility of death. I am sorry, so very sorry I just can't get my palette around this one. Maybe it is me, perhaps my tastebuds are under evolved. Its just not enjoyable to me. I feel badly about this and promise to revisit it after more experience with other scotch as I admit my experience is limited with scotch.

Notes of apple and raisins with hints of light peat and smokiness

Nose of graham cracker, lemon merengue, apple and pear. Rich flavor of pear, vanilla and peat with a touch of spice. Short, lightly spiced finish.

Smell is reminiscent of a bonfire or a BBQ with notes of smoke, charred wood, and some sweetness. Taste is warm, mildly sweet and smoky.

Nose is reminiscent of a barbecue, with a nice mix of sweet and smoky notes. The smokiness overtakes the sweetness in the palette, but the balance works nicely with a hint of brine added in. The finish has a nice but of spiciness that lingers down into the belly.

*Juicy, oak & vanilla Nose: Vanilla, oak tannins Palate: Deep fruits, old oak Finish: Roasting spices

Rating: 16/23 I was pretty impressed by this in a bar back when going to bars was a thing. Well, it's a thing again now, but back when it was a definite thing that nobody thought would ever stop being a thing. Anyway, I bought a bottle, so I'm tasting it again. N: Grassy, sweet, tangerine, a little barnyard with maybe a hint of smoke. Digging deeper, I get a little mineral, a dash of wet wood, a faint waft of something nutty. This is a really great nose and I bet I'll discover more to it the next time I come back to it. P: Grassy barnyard smoke with sort of a limestone minerality, but much fuller. It's quite sweet in a very balanced way with a nice tangerine character with an occasional note of lemon or apricot. There's a nice fullness with just a hint of oil and nuttiness that isn't quite buckwheat. A nice dry barley flavor comes through at points as well. There is definitely maltiness here, but it's in balance with the grass and dry barley. In with the barnyard I get a little of that wet wood from the nose. A very complex palate with solid depth and balance. F: Grassy and grainy with that full, mellow limestone melding into low-key malt, a twist of lemon, and faint barnyard. - Conclusion - Wow! This might be the scotchiest scotch that ever scotched. It really makes me think of Campbelltown, but there's some nice highland fruit and mellowness mixed with some rich speyside sherry and wafts of peats. It's mostly Campbelltown, but still it does an impressive job of capturing the various regions. I am frankly blown away by this. It crushes Old Pulteney 12 (14), which I think is a pretty solid scotch for the price - and it also handily beats Highland Park 12 (12). Despite being the clear winner, this is decidedly the cheapest of the 3. I wish I had more than a sip of Springbank 10 (19) to side by side this with because this because it reminds me a lot of that famous Springbank and although I'd bet that the Springbank is better, the price difference is enormous. Frankly, at about $30 and 46% ABV with a profile to rival Springbank 10, how is this on shelves anywhere? I had to start pulling out my heavy hitters across categories to make sure that this really was in that range. Johnnie Walker Green (17) has more richness and balanced, but this is fuller and less muddled with more of a punch. There's a bit of that Shin 10 (15) fruity punchiness showing through here. That said, this is much more balanced than Shin 10 and I consider it to be a better whisky. Like Johnnie Walker Green, Nikka From The Barrel (17) is rich and balanced but (even more subtle). This carves out an opinion in that contest and makes a solid argument that it may be a better whisky. My initial reaction was that this could not be lower than a 16. Pitting it against Wild Turkey Rare Breed (18 to 19) (I unfortunately don't have much scotch in this score range), this was close, bur probably not quite as good. Jack Daniel's Single Barrel Barrel Proof (21) was the clear winner in that bout and Springbank 12 Cask Strength (22, though really it might be a 23 next time I rate it) and Glenfarclas 25 (actually a 23 already) also crushed this. Talisker Distiller's Edition clearly beats this and I don't think it's more than a 20 or maybe 21, so that kind of boots this from the 20 range. Going the other direction though, this handily beat Westland Peated (14), I threw Pikesville Rye (a high 16) in there to test the 16 range and this was clearly superior, so I'm thinking at least a 17, but clearly a 20 would be tenuous. So most likely a 17, 18 or 19. Actually, I'm leaning toward the lower end of that range I provided, so this will probably be a 17 or 18 (there were those couple of early 17s that were on roughly the same level after all). I really wanted this to be a 24/23, but it definitely isn't. That 'lack of perfection' criticism aside, the low price and decently ready availability are still shocking for a whisky this good. In a final run through of comparing odds and ends, I find that Pikesville tastes more mature and composed. The Shin 10 tastes more complex, though still a bit more brash. This is more coherent than it. Amrut Peated is less complex, but has a couple of really nice and assertive flavors. This still crushes Westland Peated, but it's competitive with the Amrut. Amrut Peated may have a fuller profile than this, but Westland Peated doesn't quite match it. Old Pulteney 12 is weak in comparison, which makes sense with its lower ABV. Some might prefer the Old Pulteney profile, but I don't and it's weaker. This is definitely better than Westland Peated (14) and Old Pulteney 12 (14). i'm inclined to place it above The Shin 10 (15) and about on the level of Amrut Peated (16). There are may others that are clearly better than this that I'll ignore here, but I'm still thinking that this is worse than I was previously indicating. This is in the same ballpark as Johnnie Walker Green and Nikka From The Barrel (which are both about 17), but I would put this in last place among the three if I had to make that call. With all of those considerations taken into account, I think that this is a 16. It swings into 15 territory and into 17 territory at times, with an occasional reference to 18 territory, but mostly it's hanging out in the 16 range. That doesn't make it a poor value - it's actually a heck of a find. This may be a step down from the ratings I was considering earlier, but this is still one to keep a lookout for. I'm deciding here and now that if I had to have just one scotch for the rest of my life - and I had to pay for it - this would be solidly in the running. The value is absolutely here and the profile is varied and comprehensive enough that I don't feel like I'm just getting one aspect of scotch.

Smoke but not too much

Some automn leaf fire smoke…. With a little fruit and vanilla. There is mineral notes to it too!