Loch Lomond Blue Label NAS

Now what will I review today? The good, the bad, the popular or the obscure? Nah, let us try some pure Lowland awfulness, the ugly duckling, the shit stopper. Of course I am talking about the low budget single malt abomination, called Loch Lomond. Now I have not yet tastes anything of what the new management has conjured up in their renewed line-up, so I’m going to give them the benefit of the doubt. My criticism will only focus on the old product from the Glen Catherine era. Ok to start on a positive note, I always liked the labelling of the old Loch Lomond, it was classy. And the pricing was ok. You could hardly blame them for robbing you blind like others did.

Now this bottle: Aged to perfection in old oak casks on the banks of Loch Lomond it reads on the bottle, well everything except the words “oak” and “cask” are basically a lie. The whisky community unanimously decided a long time ago that the Loch Lomond brand was something is far from perfect. Nor can they confirm that their casks were genuinely "old" or that the distillery is situated on the bonny banks of Loch Lomond.

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Description: the old entry-level Loch Lomond, a no-age-statement blue label, bottled at 40.0% ABV.

Nose: mostly smells of porridge, but beware the milk has gone bad. Notes of yeast and copper, but a sour scent of fermentation keeps lingering on, like a sweaty t-shirt? Some may find it harmless, but I evidently take offence.

Mouth: light bodied almost ephemeral, but on the palate… oh boy what a piece of work. It is course and crude, like sandpapering the taste buds off your tongue, how is this only 40% again? I can barely distinguish notes of cereal, cardboard, some milk and copper.

Finish: medium long, more cardboard, grey pepper and cigarette buds.

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Verdict: awful, just plain awful. I know it was never designed as an upper class malt and just a by-product of Lomond fuelled blends, but there is no excuse for putting this on the market as a single malt. So when your running short on cash try to grab something from the supermarket’s blend section and leave this one alone.