Whisky : Loch Lomond Glen Douglas 8 Year SMWS 122.35 “Marshmallows in a Fruit Bowl”

Country/Region : Scotland/Highland

ABV : 58.8%

Cask : 2nd Fill Ex-Bourbon

Age : 8 Years (Distilled 24 May 2021)

Nose :  Sweet fruit, marshmallows, and malt.  Ambrosia salad— marshmallows and chopped tropical fruits tossed in a bowl.  A sweet maltiness appeared to give the impression of Lucky Charms, especially digging through the cereal for the fruity marshmallows.  Fruit cake and mild black pepper spice, generally dry and sweet.

Palate : Thick and syrupy with notes of tropical fruit, sugar, and spice.  Very sweet with toasted marshmallows and tropical fruits— lychee, coconut, and peaches in syrup especially.  A mild tartness came on near the end with grilled pears or cinnamon pear sauce.

Finish :  Lingering fruits and dryness.

Score : 3

Mental Image : Ambrosia Salad

Notes : While whiskybase categorized this as Croftengea, SMWS told me they consider it to be “Glen Douglas” which is one of the many different style names for whiskies produced at Loch Lomond.  According to soctchwhisky.com Glen Douglas is produced on the same stills as Inchmurrin, but with slightly different cuts and different yeast strains.  The product is primarily used as a blending component and has rarely been released as a stand alone single malt.  We included this in one of our local whisky tastings because it seemed like an unusual product.

The SMWS name for this was perfect and really should have been a warning sign.  Perhaps if the name had mentioned ambrosia and I had made the connection between the flavor profile and that classic, but horrid, mid to late twentieth century dessert I would have rightly avoided the bottle.  This was sickly sweet, overly simple, and way too hot.  The youthful spirit really came through and a few drops of water did nothing to improve the profile.

Overall, I can see the appeal as a blending ingredient and this was definitely interesting and fun to try.  This had a great body and some really rich flavors, but it needed something to balance against and it was not hard to see how this could be used to bring structure and fruit to a blend.  If you love ambrosia, this will likely have more appeal.