Loch Lomond 18 Year Old

In the new – so-called Island Series – range from Loch Lomond you will also find this 18 Year Old. And as I had read quite a few good things of Loch Lomond (some single cask releases were very good, it seems), I thought it worth it to give this one a go, even though I did not like the 18 Year Old from 2010 – at all.

The nose is rather ordinary on fresh butter, baked apples, breakfast cereals and some orange peel. A tiny bit of smoke in the back, hardly worth mentioning. It improves after a few moments, offering more citrus fruit and something candly-like. The good news is that there are no off notes.

It is rather flat on the palate, with loads of cardboard, paraffin and spices. Cointreau from a cardboard box… no, this is not my cuppa. Some lemon rind on nutmeg and cloves with a bitterness from the oak. Heather?

On the finish, I get more cardboard, but also some chewing tobacco and that has nothing to do with the fact that I just saw Solo (see what I did there?).

Well, the new 12 Year Old was much more to my liking. This one is drinkable, but far from good.