Whisky : Loch Lomond 22 Year; Douglas Laing’s Old Particular (K&L Wine Merchant Cask Selection)

Country/Region : Scotland/Highland (Single Grain)

ABV : 54.1%

Cask : Refill Hogshead

Nose : Buttery popcorn leads the way followed closely by a bit of barley sugar and a ribbon of caramel.  It is movie theater snack night as salty butter popcorn dominates the initial aroma with a few kakimochi (arare rice crackers— think Hurricane Popcorn if you have ever seen it) tossed in.  Slightly citrus, like a bit of Sprite to wash down the snacks, or maybe the faint fruitiness off a pink urinal cake.  Gradually turns a bit more toward coffee, either a sweet canned coffee beverage or a coffee liquor.

Palate :  Sweet and buttery, the movie theater snacks are prevalent on the palate as well.  Ghee, butter popcorn, and salted pretzels come through followed by a bit of butterscotch.  The milky sweet coffee is present, perhaps its an overly sweetened vanilla latte or Earl Grey tea.  Milk chocolate and pastel Easter egg candies come through near the end.  You cannot taste a color, but if you could, this would taste pastel.

Finish : Lingering light butter and herbs.

Score : 5

Mental Image : Friday Night Movie Theater Carpet

Something Better : Arran Quarter Cask (similar creamy butter & vanilla, more tropical fruit)

Something Similar : Glendronach 12 Year SMWS 96.24 (similar greasy butter, more spice, sweeter)

Something Worse : Chivas Regal 18 Year (similar buttery notes, more pastries, less body)

Notes : Something a bit different from the usual fare, this Loch Lomond Single Grain Scotch was distilled from 100% malted barley.  Once upon a time it would likely have carried an “All Malt” designation— a term discontinued by the Scottish Whisky Association over a decade ago when they simplified scotch labeling.  Some of the more nebulous terms, such as All Malt or Pure Malt, were given the ax, though you do still see them in other parts of the world (especially on Japanese whiskies).

The reason this Loch Lomond cannot be labeled a single malt, despite being 100% malted barley, is the method of distillation— specifically the use of a column still.  Since the whisky was not distilled in a pot still, it cannot be labeled as a singe malt scotch.  The Loch Lomond distillery does it all, peated, unpeated, and grain whiskies— they run both pot still and column stills— and sometimes they run malted barley in the column still to make single grain whiskies like this one.

K&L’s price on this dram was pretty incredible.  Perhaps the weirdness of it made it a tough sell, though in general K&L’s pricing on the Old Particular range is excellent.  There are not a lot of other 22 year old whiskies that you could get in the $65-80 range that are quite on this level.  While the flavor profile is a bit sweet for my taste it was interesting and no other dram has taken me back to the musty worn movie theaters of the 90’s.  The combination of sweet vanilla latte and buttery snacks are certainly unique and I cannot think of any other dram I have had in quite this same vein.  For its unique qualities, this is a solid and enjoyable pick up.

A final note that the image above does not perfectly match the whisky reviewed— it is of like make, but it is not the exact bottle as I forgot to get a photo.