Craiglodge, Distillery Select, Single Cask Bottling, 1998 / 2007
In a previous post I described the non conformist, non-SWA member, victorinox many-in-one distillery that is Loch Lomond.
Here’s Loch Lomond in the guise of a peaty bruiser.
Craiglodge, Distillery Select, Single Cask Bottling, 26th March 1998 / 9th May 2007, Sherry Hogshead, Cask 137, 45%
Note the print – No Colouring. Remarkable because this whisky, a mere 9 years old, is a deep mahogany, just look at it. In fact this may be the darkest whisky I have had to date.
Nose: Oww.. Hugely ashy, burnt and burning tobacco. Where’s the peat, it’s there, just a drop or two of peat oil, but the hugely smoky ashy nose overpowers even the peat. Fragrant in a burning eucalyptus tree way. Trying to get past that, I find oxidised old furniture wax, damp -almost decaying wood and a mineral grittiness like rubbing a fistful of wet sand together. Muddy dirtiness in fact. Old washed up sea shells. This has got to be first fill sherry, but where’s the sherry. Ok some smoked plums, like the chinese preserved treat, only left in a smoker overnight, but that’s it.
At this point I note with surprise that this whisky leaves a cloudy layer over the parts of the copita it had swirled over. Fusel oils? I have not seen that effect occur so quickly in the glass before.
Palette: Ack!! Over the top ashy, smoky, ashy, smoky, ashy. Seriously tastes like what an ashtray would. Did I mention its a little ashy. I can see how some would adore this, but it’s completely out of balance, and I don’t think the good folks who released this care. Struggling to get past that now. Ok, it’s mildly sweet, some dried plums that taste exactly like the afore mentioned local treat. Something meaty in here too gritty meatiness. Ok, I’ll say it’s smoked ham. Some mineral flecks. Ash. Ash.
Finish: For this whisky only – medium. But the ashiness – forever.
Hard to score – this fellow isn’t playing in the same playground as mainstream whisky. For maniacal weirdness however, it would be closer to the other black line.
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