Lochlea Cask Strength Batch 1 Single Malt Whiskey / 60.1% / 0.7l

Lochlea Distillery was established in 2018. It is based on a historic farm in Ayrshire, where William Burns lived and wrote from 1777-1784.

The distillery has a single pair of stills and can produce 200,000 litres of distillate per year using only the barley grown on the farm. Its first manager was Malcolm Rennie, whose CV includes the Ardbeg, Bruichladdich and Kilchoman distilleries, and since 2021 John Campbell, former manager of Laphroaig, has been the production director and blender. The cask strength edition presented here debuted in spring 2023. It is a blend of first-fill bourbon casks and Oloroso sherry butts, bottled at 60.1% abv, natural colour and without chill filtration. 15,000 bottles have been released.

Nose: barley malt, fresh bread, caramel, vanilla, green apples, bananas, orange peel, ginger and light oak and floral notes.

Palate: barley malt, vanilla pudding, sponge cake, roasted nuts, black pepper, lemon grass, baked apples and pears and a hint of hay.

Finish: medium long, grassy, ​​with notes of roasted nuts, vanilla, toffee, lemon peel, ginger, a pinch of pepper and oak.