I partnered yesterday's very decent 12yo American oak Inchmoan with a single 10yo American oak cask Inchmoan. Sounds like a normal side-by-side on the surface, but as I found out after I'd taken part in the bottle split, this 10-year-old was no normal whisky. Per Loch Lomond's Master Blender, "This cask was from a batch of our wine yeast fermentation spirit--"
Y E S
This is the kind of tomfoolery I support. Everyone else can go dry shave their wet casks in the privacy of their cooperages all they want. But yeast is interesting, it's a primal force, man. Its flatulence has bewitched and destroyed the human brain for millennia. I'd love to see more distilleries tool around with fermentation to see what arises from the cauldron. Maybe nothing, maybe everything.
Anyway, here I go...
Distillery: Loch Lomond
Style: Inchmoan
Owner: Loch Lomond Distillery Company
Region: Highlands (Western)
Bottler: Scotch Malt Whisky Society
Age: 10 years (19 July 2009 - 29 April 2020)
Maturation: 1st fill bourbon barrel
Cask: 135.22 - "Beautiful bizarre!"
Outturn: 188 bottles
Alcohol by Volume: 59.9%
(from a bottle split)
NEAT
The nose starts off brothy, fishy and slightly sugary, like I've just raided the snack rack at Lawson's in Kyoto, and half the bags have this...scent. Then those notes slip away, aside from a hint of broiled eel, and a different whisky appears. One full of blossoms, honey, green apples and honeydew. The palate is all yuzu, pineapple gummies, lychee, watermelon Jolly Ranchers and cara cara oranges. Just the essences without the sugar overload. It finishes with tart citrus and tropical fruits, and crisp in-season apples.
DILUTED to ~46%abv, or 1¾ tsp of water per 30mL whisky
Yuzu, kabosu, white peach and honeydew on the nose, with brothy sencha in the background. Mint, mango, roses and Juicy Fruit gum lead the palate, with some good herbal bitterness in the midground. The finish matches the palate, with that herbal bite keeping it from getting too sweet.
WORDS WORDS WORDS
Had I not found out about this whisky's unique fermentation, I would have been very confused about how this style came about. Very confused and very happy. I love this stuff. It is indeed a "beautiful" thing, but not really "bizarre!" Though it's not quite what one first expects to find in a peated Loch Lomond whisky, or a peated whisky, or a whisky, it's fascinating, yet very drinkable. It is the sort of thing for which I would pay a premium. Thank you, Loch Lomond, for giving this a try. Please do so again some time.
Availability - Sold out?
Pricing - £48.99 in 2020
No comments:
Post a Comment