Lochlea Our Barley
Mellow, Sweet Fruity2022-07-31
The farm distillery works under the motto dare to be honest. It puts into practice what many whisky lovers want: Honesty and transparency. From the local cultivation of the barley to the bottling - the whole production process is traceable. Master blender John Campbell, previously distillery manager of Laphroaig for 25 years, seized the opportunity to create a Single Malt Whisky in a new distillery, which is to set new standards in terms of quality.
By the way: The packaging is chic and classy, as is the bottle.
Smell
Is this a honey wine? We have a massively sweet, fruity sweetness. Ripe pears, syrup and cream caramel. Very mild, spiciness is almost not noticeable at all. Maybe a little in the background.
Taste
Sweet and spicy and with a good portion of grain and honey, the Lochlea Our Barley makes its way into the mouth. Burnt toast and an alcoholic spiciness follow. There's a little vanilla and some cinnamon in the background. A quite interesting breakfast.
Finish
The spiciness settles on the palate. Dry and medium in length, a young, yet well-balanced single malt says goodbye with a little sweetness reminiscent of sunflower honey.
Thoughts
We dare to be honest:
We think Lochlea's approach is exceptional.
We are pleased to be able to follow a transparent manufacturing process.
We advocate the local cultivation of the ingredients and also the local storage of the barrels.
We take our hats off to John Campbell for taking this step after a quarter of a century.
But now to the Lochlea Our Barley itself: As is to be expected from an extremely young distillery, we do not find a bottling here that will have been in the cask for significantly longer than three years.
The mild nose promises something that the taste cannot deliver due to the lack of maturity. Nevertheless, we have a wonderful olfactory and taste profile, which promises many more great releases that may be a little older. Nevertheless, we had a very good first release in our glass.
We think the price of the bottle is okay. Lochlea will not be able to enter the market with fighting prices, we are used to from the standard bottlings of the big distilleries. So in terms of price, the single malt is within reason.
We see enormous potential and look forward to the next releases!