After the lone 17 year old from Craigellachie, it is time to end this series with a couple of 18-year-old whiskies. For reasons unknown, unless you consider Craigellachie’s Travel Retail 19-year-old exclusive, most distilleries jump straight from 18 to 21. Not something I will lose sleep over, but still something that seems to make little sense. Still, today we start with this review of the Loch Lomond 18 year old.
TL:DR: A pleasant 18-year-old at great value
Score: 6, Good Stuff.
Is the best still to come for Loch Lomond?
Before diving into the review of the Loch Lomond 18, some facts about the distillery should help put today’s review into perspective. Loch Lomond has been operating since 1965, but the current ownership only took control in 2014. Around the same time, the current Master Distiller, Michael Henry, assumed his role.
In practical terms, this means that, except for some special releases and, likely, the Steam and Fire release, the vast majority of Loch Lomond’s output we are drinking today was all produced before the new management took over. Considering the progressively increasing quality of the distillery’s output, I am intrigued by what we will see emerge from Loch Lomond after 2026. Meanwhile, I will continue to enjoy the output of one of the most underrated and best-priced distilleries in Scotland.
And with that, let me jump into the review of the Loch Lomond 18.
Loch Lomond 18 years old
Specs
Price paid: € 76.79
Bottled date: 22/5/2023
ABV: 46%
Natural colour: No
Non-chill filtered: Yes
Casks Used: first fill Bourbon, refill and recharred – all American Oak.
Tasting Notes
Colour: It’s a real shame to continue to see the Loch Lomond group (Loch Lomond and Glen Scotia) using caramel in their core range whiskies. This one is a warm amber, but being caramel-coloured, I am left to wonder how it would look au naturel.
Nose: It is a bit of a quiet nose, not muted, but not one that jumps out of the glass either. Oven-baked apple, grapefruit peel oil, toffee and malt are the core notes. There is a big hit of vanillin, which is a constant presence for me when recharred casks are used in maturation. There is some complexity, but the secondary notes are faint background players. A little oily rag funk, a touch of smoke (extremely faint), spices. Some menthol weaves in and out.
Taste & Finish: The taste intensity is ramped up compared to the nose, but that comes at the cost of complexity. The mouthfeel is average, a bit drying and oaky. Malt, spice, a touch of peat smoke and a little liquorice. Quite simple, but pleasant.
The finish is medium long, drying, with notes of toffee, grapefruit, spice and malt, just a touch hot on the aftertaste.
Score*: 6, Good stuff.
It’s no secret that I have a soft spot for Loch Lomond and the work of their Master Distiller, Michael Henry. Use of caramel colour notwithstanding.
Their entry level 12 year old is a solid choice to introduce beginners to funk, and the Distillery Edition 7 made my list of memorable drams of 2024. With that comes a certain level of expectation. An expectation that this 18-year-old does not fully meet.
It is a good whisky and arguably one of the best value 18-year-old bottles available, especially now that Speyburn seems to have decided that extra dilution (to 43%) and chill filtration are the way forward. However, it lacks some of the character that products distilled under the new ownership, which took over in 2014, tend to have. Considering we’ll have to wait until 2032 for a Loch Lomond 18 fully produced under the new ownership, we’ll continue to enjoy this solid, if slightly simple, 18-year-old for a while longer.
* Scores are based on the scoring scale used by Dramface, slightly modified to allow half-points
Interested in my take on a specific whisky style? Check the full Journey here and jump to the relevant Chapter.
After writing my tasting notes, I always find it interesting to look at other opinions. Here are a few other reviews of Loch Lomond 18 I enjoyed:
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