Royal Lochnagar Selected Reserve

Thirteen years after King William IV visited the Brackla distillery near Cawdor Castle and and bestowed upon them a Royal Warrant, Queen Victoria visited the Lochnagar distillery near Balmoral Castle. She did the very same thing and since then it’s Royal Lochnagar. The Selected Reserve is a limited series is that is released from time to time (but not yearly). It is bottled at drinking strength. Judging by the color, quite a bit of sherry matured Lochnagar went into the mix.

Dark and sweet, very soft and aromatic nose on raisins, candied orange peel, fresh fig, old leather, pineapple and banana. Cloves are in charge. Caramel and caffé latte in the background. Mokatine becomes grand and dominates after a few moments. Very good indeed.

The palate is a nice continuation of the nose, with loads of sherry notes, but with some earthy notes and a slight bitterness through the whole. I would have liked to body to be a bit more oily, but the taste is more than fine. Quasi complex.

The finish is a tad too short to be called long, but remains dark and sweet. At the death a perfumy note (lavender?) appears, which is unbecoming of this beautiful nose and palate.

If the finish was not a bit of a let-down, this would have been a belter. Nevertheless, this is still the best Lochnagar I have tried to date. Recommended.

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